Harry Potter and the Flames of Rebellion
by RisingPhoenix7
Summary: During the battle in the Department of Mysteries, Harry and several others are pulled to a place where even the stars in the sky are aflame with war. In their quest to return home, they find themselves drawn further and further into the conflict as they begin to change in ways they could never expect...
1. Chapter 1: Worlds Apart

**Harry Potter and the Flames of Rebellion**

By RisingPhoenix7

Chapter 1: Worlds Apart

Harry awoke to a blazing heat on his back. He winced at the incredible brightness around him, getting to his feet. As he did so, he felt the ground shift slightly under them. Panicking, he looked down; but it was only the sand he was standing on.

_Oh, good, I…wait, WHAT?!_

Despite the harsh light attacking his eyes, he forced them open all the way. He made to say something, but his lips felt grainy and slightly chapped. He spat at his feet, a clump of sand and saliva falling to the surface. _Something is wrong here…_ There were five individuals lying on the sand around him, all wearing black cloaks, just as he was. The sand stretched into the distance as far as he could see; there were no buildings or vehicles of any kind, or at least none visible. The heat was vicious; it was clear they were in a desert of some sort.

Worried about the individuals, he made for the closest one, turning them over. With a gasp, he saw that it was Ron. "Ron!" yelled Harry, shaking him. "Ron, wake up!"

Ron gave a start, groaning. "No more Chocolate Frogs, thanks…"

"Ron!" He kicked as lightly as possible into Ron's shin.

"OW! Hey!" Ron's eyes snapped open, and then immediately closed. "Blimey, Harry, turn the light off!"

"It's not me. It's…" He looked up as he was speaking, and then received a shock. There, hanging in the sky, was a brightly shining sun…and not far away, there was another. "Ron…it's the suns."

"The sun? How'd we get outside?"

"_Suns_, Ron. There are two!"

"What?"

Memories began to flood back to Harry, and he suddenly realized who the rest of his companions were. "Ron, go wake up Luna and Neville. I'll get Hermione." He looked over at the remaining individual. "Leave _him_ until we've got everyone else." Ron, still adjusting to the heat and light, nodded, and they went about, rousing their friends. Harry knelt down next to Hermione, gently shaking her. "Hermione. Hermione, wake up!"

"Mmm…not now, Harry, I need to finish this essay…"

If he wasn't so worried about waking the last member of their group, he would have set off fireworks or something with his wand. But as it was…wait…of course! _Can't believe I forgot!_ He drew his wand from his robes, pointing it at the tallest of the figures in the sand. He opened his mouth to speak, and then frowned. "Oh, that's right, we haven't learned Conjuration yet." He'd wanted to tie the man up, but he would have to hope Hermione could manage it. He frowned, and then got an idea. Harry leaned in close to whisper in her ear. "Hermione, you're late for the exam."

"WHAT?!" she yelped, jolting awake and nearly head-butting him in the process.

_She's going to wake him up!_ And indeed, the man began to stir. "Hermione, tie him up, quick!" he hissed, pointing at the man.

Without even asking, she drew her wand, snapping "_Incarcerous_!" The man had only just risen to his knees when thick ropes bound him tightly and knocked him right over again.

"Agh, what the devil?!" he yelled.

Hermione's eyes widened, and then she too winced at the brightness of the twin suns. "Harry, what's going on? Where're Neville and Luna?"

"Right here," Neville said, walking up to them. "Harry, where are we?"

"I don't know." He looked around them at the arid landscape. "If I had to guess, we're in a desert."

"Yeah, I figured that, too."

"Not just any desert," Luna said brightly. "We're on a different planet." All of them turned to stare at her; even the bound man. "Well, we're in a strange desert, with two suns above us. Earth doesn't have two suns. So, different planet."

Hermione stared at her, amazed. "She…she's right. It's the only thing that makes sense."

"We could be dreaming," Ron suggested.

"All five of us?" countered Neville.

"Let me go, you stupid little fools!" the man yelled. They ignored him.

"_Aguamenti_!" shouted Hermione suddenly, and a small spray of water splashed Ron right in the face.

"Hey, cut that out!" he snapped. "Fine, fine, we're _not_ dreaming!"

"Strange," Hermione muttered, looking at her wand. "The spell is supposed to create a jet of water at full power."

"Don't worry about me or anything," Ron muttered, wiping his face with the cuffs of his robes. "I'll just dry myself off, then."

"Wait," Neville said. "If we're on a different planet, how did we get here?"

"That's a good question, Neville." Harry turned to the man, who was still trying and failing to escape his bonds. "You're Rookwood, aren't you? What happened to us?"

"And why should I tell you anything?" he snarled.

"Because if you don't, we'll leave you here like that," Harry said coldly. "Answer us and we'll take you with."

"Harry…" Hermione began, shocked.

"You heard me," he said, glaring at the man.

Rookwood, for his part, glared back. However, his face was full of barely-concealed fear. "…Fine. Do you remember us fighting in the Department of Mysteries?"

Harry frowned, thinking back. _The Department of Mysteries…_

* * *

"_Hermione, look out!" Harry yelled. She ducked under the Killing Curse that sailed over her head._

"_NO!" Lucius Malfoy yelled. "We need the prophecy! Leave them alive!"_

_One of the doors in the room they were in crashed open, and Ron, Neville and Luna burst through it, pursued by one of the brains that had been in the earlier room. Ropes of what looked like thought were extending from it, trying to ensnare the three. "Harry!" Ron yelled._

"_Ron!" Hermione shouted._

"_Enough of this nonsense!" roared Rookwood. "We don't need them all alive, just Potter!" He raised his wand. "_Ava_-"_

"_NO!" Harry roared, running at the man and forcing his wand upward._

"_Let…go…of me!" the Death Eater growled, the two of them struggling over his wand._

"_We'll help, Harry!" Neville yelled, and he and the other two ran at Rookwood, the brain still looming behind them._

"_Stop it, you fools! NO!" The combined power of the teens forced the wand out of his hand, and he grabbed Harry, yanking him as he moved backwards. Harry, who had made to move forward, accelerated the process, and Rookwood flew right off his feet. The sudden lack of resistance sent Harry tumbling forward, bringing Ron and the other two with him. He felt Hermione grab his arm…felt a strange sensation as the brain closed a tendril of thought around his other arm…the whole group crashed into something…and then…_

And that was where his memory left off.

* * *

"I remember now," Harry muttered. "We crashed into something. But why would that send us here?"

"I was trying to Apparate away," Rookwood said. "Take you to the Dark Lord directly. And we crashed into that damnable cabinet!"

"What cabinet?"

"The one with the Time Turners." He glared. "That was when I tried to Apparate. I don't know what happened after that; you woke up before I did."

Harry tried to remember. But other than an uncomfortable sense of squeezing and tingling, he couldn't recall anything else.

"How are we going to get back?" Hermione asked.

"We can worry about that later," Harry said. "For now, we need to find a town or some kind of settlement. I don't fancy spending any more time out here than we need to."

"Agreed," Ron said. He looked over to Rookwood. "Who's guarding him?"

"I'll do it," Neville said, staring at the Death Eater. "If he tries to escape, I'll stop him."

"Good. Thanks, Neville," Harry said gratefully. "Okay, listen up everyone. No matter what happens, we travel as a group. You included," he said with a look at their captive. "I don't know what might be in a desert, but-"

"Oh, there's loads of things!" Luna said eagerly. "There's lizards and cacti and giant spiders that-"

"Okay thanks Luna that's great," Ron said breathlessly, his face going somewhat pale.

Harry smiled slightly. "Well, then. Let's go."

It took them very little time traveling for Harry to decide that he didn't much care for deserts at all. As far as he was concerned, this was reasonable with how unforgiving the heat was; even if they'd only had to worry about one sun, he doubted his opinion would change any.

On Luna's advice, they had torn off sections of their robes to wrap around their heads. This kept the worst of the sun off their heads, and with another strip of fabric off the robes, a mask to keep the blowing sand out of their mouths. Though Rookwood didn't express any appreciation, Harry still gave him the same impromptu head coverings; he may have been their enemy, but Harry wasn't going to leave him to die if he could help it. …Not that Rookwood needed to know that. Hopefully they could find a way back soon, and their Death Eater captive could be put in Azkaban where he belonged. Until then, they would march him right beside them.

He hated that they didn't know where to go. The Four Point spell told them where north was well enough, but that didn't help when they didn't know their current location or a desired one. They could send up sparks, but without knowing whether the creatures on the planet were friendly, that was an incredibly dangerous move. They'd agreed, however, that if things became desperate enough, it would be an option.

They trudged in the same direction for what felt like hours. Harry chose it on impulse, with no particular reasoning, yet no one had complained. Hermione had questioned why, but with no better ideas, she agreed that progress in any direction was better than staying in the desert.

The group traveled onward. That cursed heat wasn't letting up at all, though Harry was sure the suns had moved a little further down in the sky. Perhaps it was that same heat, but Harry was getting a strange feeling of being…drawn, somehow. It wasn't the sudden jerk that a Portkey caused, but more of a slow, gentle pull. He looked over at the others. None of them said anything, but Ron seemed determinedly focused on the direction they were heading, and Luna looked almost as if she were listening to a sound that only she could hear.

"This is stupid," Rookwood muttered, an edge to his voice. "We should make camp and wait for the night."

"It'll be freezing at night," Hermione replied testily. "And that might be when the creatures on this planet hunt."

Off in the far distance, in the direction they had come from, there was an unearthly howling roar.

"And what if they hunt during the day?" the Death Eater growled, gritting his teeth.

"Then we'd better get as far as we can from it," said Ron, in a tone that implied the discussion was over. To their surprise, Rookwood did not press the issue, and their journey continued in silence.

They stopped after a few minutes to drink water; Hermione showed them the water conjuring charm and, with no dishware at hand, they drank nearly directly from wand tip. To Hermione's worry, the spell once more only conjured a gentle stream of water, but Harry thought they would be okay as long as they got to a settlement of some kind soon. What he was more worried about was food; he's asked and Hermione said something about an exception to the third law of…something or other…the point was that they couldn't make food out of nothing.

They continued on, and to Harry's surprise, he felt slightly more tired than when they stopped. Looking at the others, he could see that they all seemed to feel how he did. Hermione, however, was suffering the worst; she was panting as if from heavy exercise, and she seemed as if she could barely keep moving. "Hermione, are you okay?" asked Ron.

"Just…fine…" she said breathlessly.

"Maybe we should stop for a short while," Neville suggested. "If we can just…" He broke off, staring ahead of them. "Whoa…"

They had come to the crest of a dune. There was a somewhat steep decline from the top of the dune to a large area of packed sand. Not far from them, a group of animals was resting on the sand. They looked almost like dark, woolly sheep the size of an elephant, with oversized mouths and lips. Their horns were massive in diameter, curling backwards into loops; they rather reminded him of ram's horns. There were perhaps twenty total; fifteen adults, and five smaller ones, all making intermittent mooing sounds.

"They're beautiful!" Luna said in admiration.

Harry could sort of see what she meant. While he much preferred owls, the various features of these creatures combined to form an outline that made them look like giant puppets. He would even call them cute. "I wonder what they are."

"I'll tell you what they are," Ron said, grinning. "A ride. Anything that big should be able to carry us; we make friends with one, and we ride it right into a city."

"Hey, that could work!" Neville exclaimed, beaming at Ron. "Brilliant!"

"I'm impressed, Ron," Hermione said, smiling.

"Always the tone of surprise," he muttered.

"I hate to ruin your carefully laid plans," Rookwood interrupted. "…Well, actually I don't, but exactly how are you going to make friends with those odd…cows?"

"Fair point, that," Ron said, frowning. "Anybody have any food we can offer them?"

"If we had any, we'd have eaten it by now," Neville said pointedly.

"Hmm," said Hermione, thinking. "Perhaps we…could…" She trailed off as Luna strode determinedly past her. "Er…Luna?"

"Care of Magical Creatures was always my best subject. They may not be 'magical'," she said, walking towards the nearest one, "but the idea is the same."

"Luna!" Neville hissed. "Come back!" She did not, however, though she did stop. After a moment's pause, she started walking to her left, circling around the creature before coming to a stop at its side. "What is she doing?"

"I'm not sure," Harry said, watching her. "I think…she's trying to make sure it sees her."

"But if she does that, it's going to attack!"

"I don't think so," Ron said. "Maybe it's like hippogriffs? You approach with respect and they let you close the distance."

They continued watching as she stopped again, waiting. The creature she had approached turned its head slowly to look at her. The two held their gaze for a long time; at least a minute had passed before something happened, and Harry spent the entire time holding as still as possible, hoping that he wouldn't startle the creature.

But, eventually, something did happen. The creature shifted, rising up slowly to stand. Once it had, it ambled over to Luna, peering at her curiously. It stopped some feet away from her, and then suddenly, a long tongue shot out of its mouth.

It was all Harry could do to not jump in shock, and from the sound of Ron's sharp intake of breath, he was not the only one. Luna, however, stood firm as the creature's tongue stopped a mere foot from her. As Harry looked, it almost seemed like the tongue was…sniffing at her? Did the creatures have no noses?

"It's going to eat her, you know," Rookwood whispered.

"Shut it," Neville growled.

"She was the one foolish enough to approach it. Not my fault if-"

"Shut it, or I will _make_ you," he replied. Rookwood rolled his eyes, but obeyed all the same.

The creature's tongue retracted, and its owner took a cautious step closer to Luna. She closed distance, reaching out a hand. The beast flinched slightly, but then paused, and allowed her to touch it. She scratched behind where Harry thought he saw an ear, and the creature made a contented-sounding mooing.

"I don't believe it," their captive muttered. "The little brat actually did it."

Neville promptly slapped the back of Rookwood's head.

Luna motioned them over, smiling. "It's okay, she's friendly."

"'She'?" asked Ron curiously. "How can you tell?"

"Some of them seem to have smaller horns than the others, which is a common feature between males and females of a species," she said. "That on its own doesn't guarantee anything. However, female animals are often, though not always, less aggressive than males, and she was hesitant when I approached. Put them together, and it's a good guess that she's female."

She spoke so matter-of-factly on this point that for a split second, Harry thought he heard Hermione's voice. He even turned to look at her, but she was staring at Luna in surprise with her mouth hanging open. Neville's eyes were wide, and Ron was looking back and forth between Luna and Hermione with his mouth moving wordlessly. "But you said 'she' with such confidence, as if you knew," Harry pointed out.

She blinked. "Oh…I did, didn't I?" A distant look, quite apart from her usual dreamy expression, came over her. "I don't know how I know, I just…know."

"This is all quite interesting," Rookwood cut in, "but now that it's friendly, maybe we can use it?"

Ron glared at the Death Eater for a moment, before saying in an undertone to Harry "He's got a point."

"We'll need all the help we can get if we're going to get to some kind of shelter." He looked at Luna. "How many of us do you think can fit on her?"

She tilted her head back and forth for a few moments. "Two, maybe three. Depends on her pace, I suppose."

"Well, as long as we don't have to worry about water, we can afford a slower pace," said Neville, looking over the animals. "You think you can make friends with another one?"

"I don't know," she admitted with a frown. "But maybe we should just make sure she's willing to carry us first."

Hermione nodded. "After all, if even the nice ones don't let us ride, we're right back where we started. Good thinking, Luna." She met Ron's inquisitive look. "What? It's a good plan."

"Oh, nothing," said Ron hurriedly, but Harry could see a smirk on his face. "Who's going first?"

"You are," Luna said simply. "You and Hermione, plus one more person."

"Erm…okay, but why me?"

"You're taller; you can keep a better watch for us." She ushered them up to the wooly creature, stopping at its side. "Here, come on," she said to the rest of them, smiling.

Neville pushed Rookwood closer, and he looked at the group with a scowl. "And how do you propose _I _get on?"

"_Stupefy_." A jet of red light leapt from Neville's wand, less than an inch from the man's back. Ron strode over to help Neville catch the unconscious man, propping him up between them. "I'll be glad not to have to prod him along," grumbled Neville.

"Harry, trade with Ron," said Luna. "He'll need to be on the front. Hermione, can you help me?"

She nodded, and the two of them went to boost Ron up. He made a misstep, however, and fell onto his backside on the sand. "Ugh, I hate this stuff," he snapped, standing back up and brushing himself off. "Let's try again." This time, he was able to get onto the creature's back. As he did, however, he immediately held his nose. "Eurgh...These things smell awful."

"Well, Ron," said Hermione in an irritated voice. "The next time we're trapped on an alien desert planet with no possible way of getting home, I'll make sure the animals smell like a rose garden."

There was a brief moment of silence before Neville spoke. "…You don't think we'll be able to get home?" he asked quietly, a worried look on his face.

"Oh…Neville, I-" She broke off, looking flustered. "I didn't mean…I was just…"

"We'll get home," Luna said in a confident voice.

"R-right! Exactly." Though there was not as much confidence in her tone as there was in her words. "…Anyway, let's lift up Rookwood; we can set him between Ron and me."

They did so, and though Harry was tempted to accidentally-on-purpose drop the Death Eater, they were able to place him behind Ron without much difficulty, stretched out on his stomach like a parody of a bedroll. Hermione followed a few moments later, settling onto the creature's back somewhat nervously.

"There we are," said Luna, nodding with satisfaction. "Now we'll need to get to another close one." She looked around, pointing to one not far from them. "That one looks like it might be calm; let's try it."

Hermione shifted on her perch, but was so jittery she ended up kicking lightly into the creature's hide. With a long mooing sound, the hairy creature began trudging determinedly forward.

"Oh, no; Harry, look!" Neville said, grabbing his shoulder and pointing to the rest of the herd.

He followed the direction Neville's finger pointed, and his eyes widened. The rest of the creatures were also getting up, making movements as if to go in the same direction as the female that Ron and Hermione were currently riding.

"How fascinating," said Luna thoughtfully. "She must have been the herd's leader. That would make them matriarchal in nature and-"

"Luna!" Harry said abruptly. "We can study them more later! Let's grab another one before we get left behind!"

"Don't run!" she said as he made to sprint at one. "Walk briskly; if we spook them, they might attack."

He obeyed, though not happily. They made their way to the one Luna had pointed at earlier. It was more difficult for them to lift Neville up onto a moving mount than the previous stationary one; he only made the jump most of the way, clinging onto the creature's fur to prevent himself falling right back off. However, he scrambled up onto the beast's back, turning around and reaching back down; the thing didn't even seem to notice that he'd climbed on at all.

Harry lifted Luna up, and she caught Neville's hand. With a grunt of exertion, he managed to pull her up behind him. "C'mon, Harry!" said Neville, trying to reach for him too.

The problem was, without another person to help him jump up, he couldn't quite reach. He jumped twice for Neville's outstretched hand, but failed each time. "I can't…quite…"

"Harry, they're moving faster now!" he said. Indeed, the creatures were beginning to march a little faster; not running full out, but moving to step in line with the beast that Ron and Hermione were riding.

_I can't get left behind!_ Harry thought desperately. _It can't end here…not yet!_ But how was he going to get as high as he needed? He couldn't reach even when jumping his highest, and he didn't think the creature would let him pull his way up on the wool. If he could just…reach…higher!

An odd thing happened then. He went to jump up again, and as he did, he desperately tried to put all the energy he could into the action. But as he pulled every bit of strength he could from his body, he suddenly had a powerful thought blaze in his mind. It spread through his being, almost like phoenix song. _I can do this._ For the briefest of moments, he felt a powerful sense of calm, confidence, and peace. As he did, he felt even more strength enter himself, as if pulled from somewhere else.

He leapt up, and he didn't stop; he went up and over Neville's hand, stopping abruptly just above the creature. He only just managed to ready himself before he dropped onto it; the impact felt like it bruised several sensitive areas.

"Harry…" breathed Neville, obviously impressed.

The beast, feeling the sudden impact, gave an impatient snort and quickened its pace. It strode right up behind the lead creature before slowing its pace to match hers.

"How'd you do that?" Neville asked him.

With the pain ebbing away, Harry tried to think. "I…I dunno. I guess I just needed to, and I did it. Maybe it's something about this planet."

"Oh, isn't this wonderful?" Luna asked them, looking around at the herd moving together. "We're off toward the horizon, on these majestic creatures." She reached forward, holding Neville around the middle. He jumped slightly, but managed to keep seated. "I'll be sure to get Daddy some pictures before we return; he'd love to see these animals."

Harry was having difficulty appreciating the spectacle. From a detached perspective, it was an impressive sight, seeing the score and some of creatures all moving together. From a personal perspective, now that the pain had mostly subsided, he was starting to experience firsthand what Ron had mentioned about the smell.

As they rode, that last bit was at least something Harry got used to. The suns were still hanging resolutely in the sky, and he found himself hoping strongly that the days were not longer than the ones on Earth. Still, the creatures marched along surely, without need of guidance or encouragement as they entered a rocky sort of area. In fact, they were headed almost perfectly east, according to his Four Point spell. This item made him curious, and so he voiced it to Luna and Neville.

"Some creatures have a naturally good sense of direction," she said. "These don't seem like they're lost or confused, so they must know where they're going."

"And what if they're going somewhere dangerous?"

Luna shook her head. "They would want to go somewhere familiar and safe. If they're domesticated, they'd return to whoever cares for them; even if they're wild, they'd have a point to meet to prepare for the evening. It could be a cave, or oasis of some kind."

"I'm hoping for a town, myself," Neville commented. His face was slightly flushed; Harry wondered if it was from the heat.

They had another round of getting water to drink from their wands; Luna even gave some to their riding animal. As they did, though, Harry noticed that he was becoming more fatigued than he should have been for the relatively little activity they'd undergone, even with his odd leap onto their steed. He frowned, thinking it could have something to do with the desert air. Something tickled the back of his mind, but he couldn't quite catch hold of it.

Harry looked around them nervously as the rocky area became something of a canyon; he felt sure that they were being watched, and yet nothing approached or hindered them. He wasn't quite sure if he wanted whoever was watching to approach or not; it was unsettling not to see their watchers, but given the types of creatures they were riding on, Harry doubted their observers were anyone they could call "normal".

He wasn't sure, but he thought it was an hour later that Ron and Hermione waved to them, pointing forward. Harry stretched up slightly, and with a leap of his heart, saw movement and the gleam of metal in the distance. It was hard to tell at this distance, but it almost looked like it could be a large city. Large objects seemed to be rising into the air as others landed, all in irregular intervals.

"How far do you think?" Neville called ahead to Ron.

"Dunno!" he yelled back. "But we're on the right track now!" He glanced behind him as Rookwood stirred from his place on the beast's back. He looked back at Neville, shrugged, and turned back forward.

They continued onward, drawing closer to the city. To Harry's amusement, he saw the moment that Rookwood discovered the creature's strong smell. To the man's frustration, however, his still-bound hands prevented him from covering his nose. It was a small, petty thing, Harry knew, but he'd enjoy whatever difficulties the man had whenever he could; he deserved far worse.

There was a high speed whining noise, and something zoomed past the herd of creatures. It almost looked like a convertible car, though with large protrusions along the back of it. "Watch where you're goin', ya kriffing idiots!" the bearded man within yelled back at them, and as the craft sped into the distance, Harry noticed with some surprise that there were no wheels of any kind on it.

Harry met Neville's glance. "Magic, you think?" he asked Neville.

"Didn't seem like it."

The three of them looked over to Ron and Hermione, who likewise seemed nonplussed. Rookwood, however, was looking curious and somewhat calculating.

A mere minute later, when they drew near to what looked like a small adobe structure, the creatures suddenly stopped and began mooing in an insistent manner. "I think we've reached our stop," Luna said.

"When we're still so far out?" asked Neville. But he shrugged and slid down the creature's side, landing on the rocky surface. He held his arms up. "C'mon, Harry."

Harry made to follow, but froze as he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He flicked his gaze toward the canyon they'd come out of, and saw the flicker of something brown moving out of sight. He stared at the spot, waiting, for several moments, but nothing appeared. Warily, he dismounted as well.

They all got down fairly easily; he and Neville caught Luna, the three of them helped Hermione down, and they were able to transfer both Ron and their captive to solid ground. They began moving away, but the female that Luna had befriended gave a plaintive moo. Luna patted her on the head. "I'm sorry, girl. But we've got to say goodbye here." The creature nuzzled her hand, and she scratched it behind the ears once more.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing? Stop messing with that bantha!"

All of them jumped, turning to look at a man who was rushing towards them. He had loose-fitting clothes and a scraggly mustache, and was waving his arms frantically. "That…'bantha', was it?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah, stop before…she…" He broke off, looking with surprise at the 'bantha' that seemed at ease with Luna. "…Huh. That's odd. Usually it's just me she takes a liking to." He shook himself, and then seemed to get a proper view of them. "What in the world are you wearing? Who puts on black in a desert like this?!"

They were quiet for a moment. Harry watched Hermione, who seemed to be doing some fast thinking. "Our spaceship c-crashed out in the desert!" she wailed, pretending to cry just as she had done for Umbridge. It was much to her advantage that the torn bits of robe were still wrapped around her face; it made it much easier to hide her lack of actual tears. "We've been w-wandering for _ages_, and we d-don't know w-where we are!" She sank to her knees, still pretending to sob.

To Harry's immense relief, Ron cottoned on instantly. "It's been hardest on her," Ron said, patting her shoulder in a soothing manner. "Her father died in the crash, you see."

The man's face paled, and he looked suddenly understanding. "O-oh…don't cry, you. You see, you're- wait. Why is that man tied up?"

Harry did some fast thinking of his own. "He went a bit funny in the crash; we've been meaning to get him to the hospital. Danger to himself, you see."

Rookwood rolled his eyes. "Moon buckets," he said in a dull voice, as if disgusted that he was playing along. "Found the rat up the wire and sneezed the knife right off."

The understanding look returned. "Ah, it's okay. I've seen it happen before; don't be too hard on him, yeah? Space does strange things to people." He motioned toward the city. "Well, thankfully, you're a short walk from the spaceport. Mos Eisley's right there." He looked around at them, worry etched in his face. "And if I were you, I'd go straight to the Imperial outpost. Don't go messing around with fixing him up until they can get your identicards processed. Look for the bright white building; it should have a sign with big letters to help."

Harry felt a sinking in his stomach. He was absolutely sure that they didn't have any "identicards", and that wasn't going to be doing them many favors. They didn't have any form of identification on them that he could think of; unless you counted wands, and he doubted the people on this world did. Also (and it may have been his imagination), he felt a strange prickling feeling on hearing "Imperial outpost". "I see," he lied, hoping desperately that they could get home as soon as possible.

"Thank you very much, kind sir," Luna said, bowing slightly.

The man waved them off, looking uncomfortable. "Don't worry about it. I just feel bad for anyone on this dustball not here by choice, is all." He looked between them and the banthas for a few moments. "And if you're short on credits getting home, I could always use a few farmhands. It's hard work, but a lot more honest than the rabble you'll find in Mos Eisley."

"We'll keep that in mind," said Ron, sounding as grateful as Harry felt. "Take care of yourself."

"And you." Shaking his head, he strode past them to the lead bantha, talking with her in a soft voice.

"To the, er, 'spaceport', then?" asked Neville.

"Absolutely," Hermione said, getting to her feet abruptly and ceasing her pretense of crying. "If he can talk about space travel so casually, I'm sure they can get us home in no time."

"Let's hope so." He motioned them forward, and they strode toward the city proper.

* * *

By the time they made it into the city, Harry had come to the conclusion they were almost certainly much farther from home than he'd anticipated.

Seeing the "banthas" had been one thing, but there were strange creatures of all sorts on the way into town. There were small ones, like the tiny human-like creatures in brown robes with eyes that glowed like hot coals. There were large ones, like the beasts that looked like lizards the size of cattle. But strangest of all were the ones that were human-sized. There were people the same as them, to be sure, but there were also individuals with large insectoid eyes and trumpet-shaped ears, or heads reminiscent of hammerhead sharks, and once he swore he saw a being that looked exactly like a demon; horns and all. Neville had had to go back and retrieve Luna from goggling twice.

They'd disposed of their facial coverings not far into the city. They also had, with some reluctance, removed the ropes around Rookwood's legs (but nowhere else) to at least blend in somewhat better. To Harry's surprised relief, they seemed to get little attention; most people seemed, in fact, to be distracted with matters of their own. Even the street vendors were speaking in hushed tones to different customers; sometimes in English, but often times in languages he did not understand.

"Here we are, I suppose," said Ron dubiously. Harry turned his attention toward the building they'd just arrived at. Sure enough, it was a pristine white structure, but it was covered in characters that he couldn't decipher. "I don't understand," he muttered. "That bloke earlier was speaking perfect English, and he said we'd see the sign, but I can't make heads or tails of it."

"Of course," said Rookwood, with a tone of dawning comprehension. "It was the brain; it grabbed us, didn't it?"

"And if it did?" Hermione said, staring at him. "What of it?"

"I used to work in the Department of Mysteries; I know what those brains are for. We were using some of them to study the storage of knowledge, but since we don't suddenly know unfamiliar things, it wasn't those. Others were experimental translators; the idea was you could hear a language, and the brain would translate it for you."

"But that doesn't work," said Neville, frowning. "We heard loads of conversations on the way to this outpost and I couldn't understand any of them except the ones in English."

"They weren't in English. We couldn't get the translator brain to work for more than one language; the first unfamiliar one the user heard. After that, it was impossible to get them to adapt to any others. It also doesn't work for writing."

Hermione's eyes widened. "So that man from earlier…"

"It was our good luck he seems to have been speaking a common language. But where did the brain go? I remember the tendrils of thought tangling around us, but-"

"No loitering," snapped a voice from the doorway of the building. A man in a grey uniform had appeared. He had a pinched face, with close-cropped black hair and an insignia on his chest that looked like multicoloured medicine caplets. There was an authoritarian air around him; clearly this was a man who had time for no nonsense. He spoke, to their surprise, in a clear Londoner accent. "If you've business here, state it immediately. If not, move along." And he actually moved toward them to shoo the group away.

Harry rankled at the man's attempt to chivvy them, but before he could react, Ron's voice rang out in a stern manner. "You're not going to move us along, you're going to help us! Our ship crashed in the desert, and we need help!"

The man stopped, and he looked at them dubiously. "…Your ship crashed, you say? How did you get here?"

"A farmer found us," he said, in a tone of frustration. "Brought us to town on the backs of his banthas. Ask him! He'll tell you!"

The man's look of doubt cleared somewhat. "Hmm…well, I suppose I could. But if you say so…" He rolled his eyes. "Oh, very well. Let's get you processed. Follow me." His eyes flicked to Rookwood.

"Space madness," Hermione said hurriedly.

"Ah, I see. We can get him some medical attention once your identicards go through."

"They were…lost," Neville said, panic evident in his voice. "When our ship crashed. All our belongings went up."

"Very well. Give me your names and I'll enter them in. We can issue you new cards within a few hours."

The sinking feeling was back in Harry's stomach. This was it. They had reached a point where the simple kindness of strangers could not hope to overcome their predicament.

"Neville, don't you remember?" Hermione said in an encouraging manner. "The one bag we had left had our identicards in them. See?" She held up a number of unusual looking cards with flickering readouts, handing one out to each of them.

Harry looked at his, and suddenly he understood. Somehow, Hermione had used a Summoning Charm on the officer's card, and then magically duplicated it. The picture on the card was that of the officer, but he was quite sure they were not supposed to be flickering, given the frown the official was wearing.

"They _were_ damaged in the crash, though," she said disappointedly. "While they're working, we can get our…" She paused for the briefest of moments. "Uncle…to the hospital."

The official was looking between them, frowning. "Not before processing, you won't." His eyes flicked to Hermione, who was tucking her wand away. Harry's heart sank. The man drew what looked like a stubby gun, flicking a switch on the side of it. "Something in your pockets, child?" he snapped at her. "Why don't you turn them out and we can continue our discussion later. Say, when you're in a holding cell."

At these words, Rookwood launched at the man with a bellow. "Never!" he roared, smashing into the officer. As he hit, the gun in the official's hand went off, and what looked like a blue ring flew out of it into the sky. The two adults crashed into the ground, Rookwood still shouting. "I'm never going back to prison! You won't make me!"

As the man shouted for help, Harry could hear the clatter of approaching footsteps. "Run!" he hissed at the rest of them. They turned around, hurrying away from the brawl; Harry only just saw Rookwood work free of his bonds before they ran into two helmeted men wearing similar outfits to the official they'd just left. "He's gone mad!" he said desperately to them, waving in the direction of Rookwood. A small crowd had started to form, and he could hear the jeers and laughs of several human and non-human onlookers. "Attacked the Imperial official! You should stop him before he hurts someone!"

One of them nodded to him. "Right! You kids stay back; we'll take care of it. Come on, Jenlyns!" The two rushed towards the fracas, drawing their own weapons.

"Go," Harry whispered to the rest of them. "We need to get as far away from this as we can. But do it calmly. Casually."

"What about Rookwood?" Hermione asked as they attempted to turn their sprint into a brisk walk.

"What _about_ him?" Ron grumbled.

"If we find a way back, we can worry about him then," answered Harry. "For now, let's move." No one questioned him, as they heard more weapons go off in the direction they'd fled from. They strode down one of the streets, the white building behind them growing slowly smaller. "Excuse me, sir?" he said to a passerby. It was one of the demon-looking creatures, but he was willing to risk a simple question if it could get them far away from this place. "Do you know where we could find a good pilot?"

The individual grinned. It was a startling sight, to be sure, but Harry felt no malice behind it (or so he hoped). "You just blow in from the Dune Sea or something? Try Chalmun's Cantina. The place is practically brimming with space jockeys. You'll find it down that way," he said, pointing to the intersection just ahead. "Take a right into there, then pass two intersections and take a left. Should get you there, and you'll find a pilot in no time. That is…" He looked them up and down. "If a bunch of fresh-faced younglings like you could survive a place like that." With a snort, he continued on.

"Charming," Ron muttered. "As if we…Hermione?"

She was looking utterly exhausted. She tried to wave off his concern, but was breathing hard enough that she couldn't quite speak. Ron looked worriedly at Harry.

"Let's slow our pace a little, but head for the cantina. Whatever we find, at least it's going to be out of the sun."

* * *

If Harry had been surprised before just seeing the streets of Mos Eisley, the cantina was something else entirely. There were species of every sort here; some he'd seen, some new. Two woolly-looking creatures were having what looked like a drinking contest at the bar in the centre of the place. An alluring looking woman that seemed to have slightly scaly skin was smoking some kind of strange apparatus in one corner. And there was a stage where peach-coloured creatures that looked like a cross between bald humans and shrimp were playing a tune that was as alien as it was catchy with curious-looking instruments.

"Keep your eyes and ears open," he muttered to the rest of them. "And whatever you do, don't get separated." They walked into the bar proper. Unlike out on the streets, they were getting a few looks here. However, Harry didn't much like the kind of looks they were. He could tell they were calculating, even appraising. Harry was determined to leave this place as soon as they found a suitable pilot.

"Pardon me?" he said to a creature with a bulbous blue head and bright red eyes. "Are you a pilot?"

"Get lost, kid," the creature muttered, nursing its drink. "I'm off the clock."

Harry stepped away, irritated. Alien or no, it seemed people could be just as rude and unhelpful as on Earth.

A man cleared his throat only a few feet away from them. Harry started slightly, and they turned to look at him. He had a heavily-scarred, crooked face, with a foul-looking leather duster draped around him. There was a gun of some kind casually strapped onto each of his legs, and he was sitting at a table with three other individuals. They looked coldly at Harry and his friends, and he felt the instinctive urge to step in front of Ron and Hermione. "Can we help you?" said Harry, forcing himself to attempt politeness.

"Well, aren't you a bunch of interesting ones?" the man said.

"Erm…yes?"

"Young and fit, I see. You'd fetch a nice price on the market."

A chill ran up Harry's back. "And…what sort of market would that be?"

The man's face split into a grin that, if anything, made his features look more crooked. "Let's call it the…'indentured service' market. People like to get them young so they can be trained; and you're just young enough that you can learn while still being useful for labor."

"We'll pass, thanks," Ron growled, staring the man in the eye.

The three sitting around the man all raised weapons that looked like rifles at them. The man's smile grew. "You won't get the choice."

"There you are!" a voice came from behind them. They turned to find a man with brown hair striding towards the group. He was wearing an odd mix of clothes; dark pants with yellow piping on the outside of each leg, a white shirt, and a black vest of some kind. "I thought I told you to stay on the ship. You're not getting paid to wander around like this!" He smiled at the crooked man. "Sorry about that. New crew; what can you do?"

"I don't think so, 'captain'," the man said, his teeth set in a smile that looked more like a grimace. "They are my property."

The man's smile didn't drop. On the contrary, he looked as relaxed as could be. "You really want to be messing with my crew, Vargas? I sure hope you'll be able to explain to Jabba why he'll have a problem shifting his merchandise for a while."

The smile fled from the crooked man's face, replaced by a snarl. "You won't be able to hide behind Jabba forever, boy. One day you'll fall from his good graces, and when you do-"

"I'll tell him to give you a call. Now c'mon," he said, addressing Harry and his friends, "we don't have all day."

With nothing much else to do, they followed the man as he led them back outside, and then down through winding corridors that branched off in several directions, not stopping until a good few minutes later. "There, that should be far enough." He looked at them, his eyebrows knitted. "Now just what the hell do you think you're doing, wandering around a place like that? It's dangerous enough for a hardened thug, let alone kids."

"We're…ah…" muttered Neville. "Well…lost."

"No kidding. You want my advice? See if you can hire a sandcrawler crew into letting you ride back home. The smell'll be awful, but you're not gonna get shot, sold, or worse."

"We don't have any money, or a way to get home," Ron said. His stomach began to growl. "…Or food."

A look of concern passed over the man's face before it hardened into a scowl. "Still not the greatest idea to be hanging around the cantina." He sighed. "Look, I'm not your dad, and I've got things to do. I'm sorry you're lost, but I have my own problems."

"You said you need crew, right?" Hermione asked hurriedly. "We can help!"

The man snorted. "I'm running a freighter, not a daycare."

"We're not children!" snapped Ron.

"No, you're not. But you're as green as they come." He looked at their angry and disappointed faces. "…Listen, I'd help if I could. But it's hard enough keeping just me and my first mate fed. It'd be tough taking just one of you, and even three would probably start losing me more money than I'd make."

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Hermione cover her mouth. It almost seemed as if she was going to whisper something. A suspicion crossed Harry's mind…He settled a hand on her shoulder and then shook his head. She stopped, looking at him questioningly.

It was hard to say why he'd stopped her. Perhaps he felt wrong about her using a spell on someone who had just saved them. Or maybe he didn't want to base their future interactions on an underhanded trick. Or maybe it was the fact that she looked barely able to stand as it was.

The man looked at him questioningly. "Please, sir," Harry said. "Give us a chance. If we are too much for you to contribute to, you can drop us off somewhere, but let us try first."

The man looked between them, and Harry could see the conflict within the man's bearing. After a few moments, he shook his head, but smiled. "Ah, fine. Just make sure you work hard! You slack off, and I'll…I dunno, drop you off on a Rebel world or something." Harry didn't need to be a Legilimens to tell that the man's heart wasn't in that last declaration. "Well, c'mon, let's go to the ship."

* * *

"It's _gorgeous_."

Harry jumped slightly; Luna had been so silent he had almost forgotten she was there. Still, looking at the ship, he had to admit that he agreed. "It almost looks like a home that flies."

The man chuckled. "You're already on the crew; you don't need to butter me up." A ramp descended from the ship, and the man stepped onto it, leaning into the ship.

"Hey! We've taken on some new hands! Get down here and say hi!"

They heard a sound that almost seemed like a lion's growl from within. They looked between each other, worried. There was a loud thumping noise, and a very tall creature walked down the ramp toward them. It was…what was it?

"Sorry about the late intro," the man said, leaning against one of the ramp's support struts. "I'm Han Solo, and this is Chewbacca. Welcome aboard the _Millennium Falcon_."

* * *

CHAPTER END

Happy Star Wars Day! I actually had this idea pop into my head last year ago to the day; was intending to have a lot more chapters ready to go, but all stories start somewhere. I was also intending the crossover to be a surprise, but story tags can be a two-edged sword, huh?

As for timelines, this will hew far more to original canon than it will to Disney's, though that's not to say that every single piece of the original Expanded Universe is written in stone. Nor will all the events in the galaxy play out exactly as they have before. I'll try my best to make this a good story, but please be patient with me!

Hope you're all doing well, and see you again soon!


	2. Chapter 2: Among the Stars

Chapter 2: Among the Stars

Once they were aboard, Ron led Hermione to a cabin to retire to. Or a stateroom, rather; proper terms, and everything. Luna and Neville went with Chewbacca to learn a few basic mechanical skills, and Harry, under instructions from Solo, went to the cockpit. "Just let me know if this blinks," the man said, pointing to a bulb on one of the consoles. Harry sat, glancing at the light before looking curiously at the pilot's seat. Solo flipped a number of switches and levers, and Harry lost count before long anyway, but it was still a fascinating thing to watch. It was only a few minutes later that they were ready to go; Chewbacca returned to the cockpit along with Neville, and with the four of them settled in, Harry was reminded strangely of the comfortable crowdedness at the Burrow.

"Okay, we all set?" Solo asked his co-pilot. There was a short growl from Chewbacca. "...If the girl's that curious, I guess, as long as she doesn't mess with the sublight engines. All right, let's take 'er out slow." Chewbacca muttered something that seemed to greatly amuse him. "Yeah, well, take the small victories where we can, pal."

"What did he say?" Neville asked.

"He said he might have trouble remembering how to fly without dodging half a dozen blaster bolts." He adjusted a lever, and then nodded. "Taking off."

Harry never forgot that first lift-off. The experience of going from the ground, to the sky, then breaking through the atmosphere into the starlit space beyond…this was flying at its purest, its most wondrous. He wished so much that Ron, Hermione and Luna could have seen it at the same time, and yet relished the thought of seeing the looks on their faces when they experienced it for themselves. It wasn't instantaneous, launching into space, but that made it all the better. They would lift off into space on many more occasions throughout their time, but that first flight stayed with him to his dying day.

"Is it always so incredible?" asked Harry in amazement as the planet below came into view through the bottom section of the viewport.

"Every time," responded Solo fondly. He flipped what looked like an intercom switch. "Now strap in. We're about to make the calculations for the jump to hyperspace, and I don't want my new crew banged up." They complied, and he flipped a few more switches, turning off the intercom. There was a sound like a computer working, and a solid ping. "Okay, stand by." He pulled back slowly on a lever, and Harry saw the stars _move_. They became streaks that moved faster and faster, until there was a surge and they were gone.

"Sweet Merlin!" Neville breathed as the ship began traveling through what looked like a swirling blue tunnel. "What happened?"

"Don't tell me this is your first spaceflight!" said Solo, shocked. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you didn't know about hyperspace, either."

Harry and Neville shared a look. "Well…you see…" Harry began, but there was an amused gruff from Chewbacca, followed by a few more growls.

"Real funny, Chewie. Just keep an eye on things, would you? I'm gonna go back and check the cargo." He looked at the two Hogwarts students. "You might as well get some rest; we're three days out from our first stop. Meals are usually around 0600, 1200, and 1800. You're free to look around, gun turrets excepted, just don't touch anything or go in the cargo holds without either me or Chewie there." He left the cockpit, and Harry and Neville, without anything else to do, returned to the staterooms.

While an undecorated place, there was plenty of room for them to congregate; the three bunk beds were fit snugly into one half of the room, with a door that he assumed was the washroom and the exit at the other end. "How is she?" Harry asked Ron once they'd arrived.

Ron gave him a reassuring smile. "Doing okay. She's sleeping now." He looked between them. "What was that earlier? The ship sort of sped up and then…"

"I think he said we're at lightspeed," Neville informed him.

Ron raised an eyebrow. "As opposed to heavy speed? Well, whatever. What are we going to do? Should we just tell them to take us to Earth?"

Harry frowned. "Yes, but…I dunno. I feel like we should help them out a bit first. I mean, we don't have any money with us, so we should at least earn our trip."

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "We might need to wait until Hermione wakes up to figure out where Earth is. I mean, we've all had Astronomy, but…"

"But we're rubbish at it," finished Harry. "You look like you could use some rest yourself, you know. After that trek across the desert, I think we could all use it."

He nodded again. "You don't think…you know…I mean to say, we did leave Rookwood back there."

Harry sighed. That was complicated, and he was too tired to explain exactly how he felt about it. "We can talk about it later. For now…I just…" He trailed off into nothing as he yawned.

Ron yawned himself. "Oh, stop that. All right, fine. Night, all." He climbed into the bunk above Hermione, and within moments he was fast asleep.

"How is everyone?" asked Luna as she came into the room. "Oh," she said as she saw Ron and Hermione asleep. "How is everyone?" she whispered.

"Tired, but all right," Harry said quietly. "I'll get settled in soon; today was a long one." Luna nodded, and she took the top bunk across from Ron and Hermione. Neville, shrugging, took the bed under her. _Funny_, he thought. _If it weren't in a ship, it'd remind me of my old cupboard._ With a tired sigh, he settled in to the bottom bed of the middle bunk, taking his glasses off and setting them in the space between the pillow cushion and wall. As he lay down, setting his wand with his glasses, he had the fleeting thought that the beds were surprisingly comfortable before sleep overtook him.

* * *

When Harry awoke, he didn't remember the preceding day at first. He reached for his glasses and wand, stretching as he got up. Then he went to sit up and nearly knocked himself unconscious again when his head hit the bunk above him. Cursing his mistake, he rubbed his forehead before putting his glasses on, crawling out of the bed and looking around.

The events of the day before flooded into him, and for a moment it was too much. He froze, looking around slowly, leveling his wand and trying desperately to control his shallow breathing. After a few moments, there was a grunting snore from Ron, and the sound of him rolling over. While he wasn't quite altogether as he'd hoped, he found a sense of determination. He stuffed his wand into his robes, and went looking for the toilet. It was right in their cabin, as it happened; though of course the lettering was still in that unfamiliar script.

After washing up, he left the cabin, wandering through the ship. The cargo holds were easy enough to avoid, given that they were usually blocked off by doors that had windows. It was only just beginning to dawn on him that he was really on a spaceship traveling the stars. He stopped at the door that would lead into the cockpit, frowning. There was no one in there. _Autopilot_, he thought. Sighing, he turned away, walking to the living area.

There was surprisingly little there; a long, cushioned seat flanking what looked like a circular chessboard, with an extra seat next to what looked like computers of some kind. The rest was given over to what looked like some kind of open cargo room. Harry noticed that tucked behind the seat was another double bunk. _That must be where the other two sleep._ There was a loud beeping, and Solo entered, carrying packages of some kind. "Now, I know they don't taste like much," admitted the man, setting them atop the circular board, "but ration packs are all we've got. You've got your pick of flavor; bland, too-much-vegetable, or almost-passable-fruit."

"I'll go with bland," said Harry, and the man slid one of the packages over to him.

"I'll try vegetable, I suppose. Keep things interesting." Han tore off the foil of one of the packages with his teeth, spitting it back out as he removed the contents of the package.

Harry saw that his own ration had a dull green stripe across one corner; without knowing how to read the script on it, that would have to do for now. He tore it open, watching Solo as surreptitiously as he could for anything that might be important. To his relief, however, these seemed to be identical to the instant food he'd seen some other children in school consuming. After preparing it with the included heater, he used one of the disposable utensils to sample the food, with somewhat less enthusiasm than he would have were it a meal at Hogwarts.

Solo had not been exaggerating; the food hardly had a taste at all. Even with the provided spices, he only managed to get the substance to resemble the flavor of bread, and that was a stretch. "How's the ship?" asked Harry, more to give his stomach time to adjust to the odd meal than anything.

"Up and running," responded the man. He took a forkful of his own meal; he pulled a face at the taste, but made no comment about it. "Once we're back to sublight speed, Chewie and I can give you a crash course on a few of her systems."

"You said it's called the _Millennium Falcon_, right? Are the systems complicated?"

"She," corrected Solo, "but not too much. The _Falcon_'s had a lot of work done to her. She'll run with a good half the systems out, but I try not to push her that far unless there's no choice." He took another bite, frowned, and then stood. "Ugh. Sorry, I'll get some water." He left the food where it was, jogging off towards the stateroom.

Harry thought about their situation as he ate. It seemed that they were beginning to encounter several things that they had little to no skill in, and he was worried that they might not be able to keep up. Harry and the others had magic, of course, but he was hesitant to reveal that particular detail to Solo. For one, he might not believe them. For another, whether the man was Muggle or not, Harry was not particularly keen on revealing too much of their abilities after the altercation in the cantina. They might come as something of a shock, but if their magic could save them in a jam, he didn't want someone knowing a way to stop it.

Solo returned not long after, and following him were Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna, all in varying states of wakefulness. Harry accepted a glass of water gratefully, and the rest of his companions sat down to eat. The older man did not, however; he moved over to work with the computers some distance away.

Ron was disgusted with the taste of the ration packs, but cut off his complaining after a particularly well-aimed kick from Hermione. Neville only nibbled sporadically at his meal, while Luna ate slowly and deliberately, as if to savor whatever taste could be found in the bland meal. Hermione, to Harry's amusement, barely seemed to taste her meal, digging into it with enthusiasm and finishing it faster than any of them, Harry included.

"So then," Solo said, dropping into the chair near the computers. "What's your story?"

Harry swallowed the last of his meal, trying to think as quickly as he could. "Why so curious?" he asked to buy them some time.

"Not much else to do while we're in hyperspace. Gotta pass the time somehow."

Hermione looked questioningly at Harry, but when he didn't answer she said "We're…sort of lost. We got separated from our family."

Ron suddenly began coughing very violently, his eyes wide. Neville thumped him on the back, and he was able to swallow the lump of food in his throat. However, this didn't seem to cheer him up any. On the contrary, he slid off the bench and, without even a "thank you" to Neville, walked off in the direction of the staterooms.

Han watched him go with a curious expression. "It was recent, wasn't it?"

"Just yesterday," answered Luna, looking only slightly less dreamy than usual. She blinked as Hermione got up and hurried after Ron. "…We were stranded in the desert. We've been trying to find home ever since. Only…we don't know where home is."

"You don't strike me as the Tatooine kind of kids." Neville and Harry frowned at that last word, but he ignored it. "Sheltered, definitely, but not the farm type. If I had to guess…probably Cerea, what with the outfits and the sticks you're hiding in your sleeves."

Harry gripped his sleeve without thinking, surprised that Solo had been so attentive.

"In my line of work, you gotta be good at seeing the outline of concealed objects; usually blasters. Anyway, judging from your accents, you were probably raised by people originally from the Core; first, maybe second-generation colonists. So tell me, am I heading down the right hyperlane?"

Harry looked to Neville, who was looking just about as lost as he was. "…I'm not sure what others call it," said Harry finally, "but we know our planet as Earth."

Solo raised an eyebrow. "Never heard of it."

Harry's heart sank. If someone who seemed so well-traveled had never once heard of Earth, what hope did they have of returning?

"So it's not Cerea, huh? Shame, I've brought cargo there before. 'Earth'…that another name for Bakura? It's about as distant as you can get before you hit Wild Space, and it's not far from Cerea."

Harry wasn't quite sure how to respond. To give himself time to think, he placed his hands in his pockets. Before he could even begin to form a response, however, one of his hands brushed against something smooth and hard. On instinct, he grabbed it, and could feel a small globe of some kind.

His eyes widened as realization dawned on him; it was the prophecy! It took all his concentration to remind himself where they were, and that drawing it out to examine it should wait until he had more privacy.

"…Harry?"

Harry started. Neville was looking at him, worried at his expression. Luna was staring in abject curiosity, without pausing her meal whatsoever; almost as if he were a somewhat entertaining movie. Solo acted nothing more than curious, and yet his expression seemed a bit too calculating to be idle curiosity. "Er…sorry, what were we talking about?" he asked, removing his hands from his pockets.

"Where we're from," said Neville nervously.

"Er…" He tried to think very fast. If the pilot had never heard of Earth, then they couldn't expect to be taken there immediately. If only he'd bought that moving model of the galaxy in Diagon Alley…then he could just point it out. But…wait a moment; that was it! "Maybe we can show you on a star chart?" offered Harry, hoping desperately that Hermione remembered enough of Astronomy to find Earth on an unfamiliar map.

Solo shrugged. "I guess. We'll wait until after our first stop; the brains get grouchy if we look for something outside a plotted course."

"The…the 'brains'?" asked Neville, eyes wide.

"Yeah, the droid brains. Tough enough to get 'em to focus on a job as it is; I'll wait until after delivery so they're not so hard to work with. They're a pain even without knowing what they're saying." He finished up the last of his ration, shook his head, and tossed the packaging and utensils into a chute. "Oh, speaking of. What kinda languages do you know? Not Wookiee, obviously, but any others?"

_Wookiee? Meaning Chewbacca?_ Harry was starting to feel like he'd never be calm again. Whether the man knew it or not, he had a knack for asking the questions Harry was the least ready to answer. "Well…" stammered Harry, again trying to stall for time. To be perfectly honest, the only language he knew besides English was Parseltongue, and who knew when they would encounter a snake? "…Just the basic one." He hoped his answer was vague enough to be acceptable.

The man looked amazed. "Just Basic? Really?" He shook his head. "Of all the luck…" He muttered to himself as he walked away, and his words became different; it must have been a separate language, because Harry didn't recognize most of the words. "_Grancha, Solo. Do yuna puna bleeda harto. Bona nai kachu._"

"Could've gone better, that," said Harry in a low voice. "C'mon; let's check on Ron."

"You think that Chewbacca would be interested in teaching us his language?" Luna asked as she scooped up the remnants of their ration packs, tossing them into the same place that Solo had. "I think it sounds lovely. It reminds me of the warbling gultophs."

Harry shared a look with Neville. "…You don't say. Maybe you can tell us more after we've met up."

They returned to the stateroom, and found both Ron and Hermione looking horror-stricken. "What's up with you two?" Harry asked, frowning.

"I'll tell you what's up!" snapped Ron, startling Harry somewhat. "Ginny, that's what!"

He was confused for a split-second, and then the horrible realization dawned on him. "She didn't come with us."

"Which means she's still back there!" shouted Ron. "Surrounded by Death Eaters at the Ministry!"

"I…" Harry was grasping for something to say, but an icy feeling had gripped his stomach, and was now spreading to the rest of him. "She…might be okay."

"Oh, that's great; _really_ comforting. She's only stuck with those-" he called the Death Eaters a word that was very rude indeed, "-in that place with no one to help her, but she _might_ be okay! _Brilliant_!"

"But we took Rookwood with us," said Neville, looking as if he was fighting his own fear. "She might have been able to slip past them without him; I doubt the rest of them know the Department of Mysteries very well."

"That's true," Hermione spoke up, looking at Neville with some relief. "She's a good duelist, too; you saw what she could do in the D.A."

"She dueled one at a time in the D.A.!" Ron pointed out. "You really think those Death Eaters are going to stand back and let her fight them in turns?!"

"What do you want us to do?!" yelled Harry, feeling his temper rising. He balled his fists up, stamping in anger as he shouted back. "You think that we're not-" He broke off suddenly as he felt the prophecy rustle in his pocket.

"Not what?" challenged Ron, glaring at him.

Harry didn't answer, taking the small glass orb out of his pocket and staring at it. A thought was forming in his mind; it wasn't a happy thought, truthfully, but maybe…

Luna's mouth opened as she saw him hold the glass ball out. "That's the prophecy," she observed. "The one they were after." She looked at Harry, and he saw the understanding on her face. "Ron, Ginny is alive."

"And why might that be?" Ron was staring at her now, disbelief etched on his face. "I suppose she'll be protected by the 'heliopaths' or the Croaky-Snergle, or-"

"It's because they need that." She pointed to the spun glass ball in Harry's outstretched hand. "Without that, You-Know-Who would be furious. They would make sure to keep her alive until they could find the prophecy, and she might be able to escape in the confusion."

Hermione looked both surprised and impressed; Neville was gaping in amazement at her. It was the most sensible, matter-of-fact thing Harry had ever heard Luna say, and he could have kissed her for it. As it was, he said to Ron "Exactly. They wouldn't dare risk making their boss angry, and she'd be the only one left for them to ask."

Ron was looking unsure. "But…if she was the only one to ask, then…"

It was a grim thought, but Harry knew he needed to be strong for Ron. "She can take care of herself, Ron. And even if she had trouble getting away, I'm sure someone would come to help her." He said it without thinking it through, but as he did, he had a sudden memory of giving Snape his veiled hint. Snape had ignored Harry, even belittled him; but wasn't he a member of the Order of the Phoenix? Could he have alerted Dumbledore after all? _Or_, nagged a little voice in his head, _maybe he understood and he ignored you. Maybe he's not really trustworthy after all. Maybe-_

Harry shook his head to clear those thoughts, and forced himself to look back at Ron. "Ginny will be okay," he said, and he put every ounce of confidence he had into that statement.

Ron let out a long, shaky breath. "…Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure she will." He seemed to have deflated, his anger slowly ebbing away. "Harry…thanks."

Harry nodded. "Of course." He stared curiously at the prophecy before putting it away. He wasn't sure why, but now didn't really feel like a good time to examine it closely.

They made attempts at conversation sporadically for the next few minutes, but none of them really had their hearts in it. Eventually, Harry gave it up as a bad job and decided to explore more of the ship, hoping that the movement would keep him busy enough to avoid sinking into the melancholy that was developing in the stateroom.

It didn't eliminate his concerns, but walking around did help clear his head, even if the space was somewhat limited. He found Chewbacca tweaking what looked like a large crossbow near the table they'd just ate at. Fascinated, he sat down at the far chair to observe. Chewbacca, for his part, seemed completely unaware of Harry's presence, though it was difficult to tell. Harry wondered what good a crossbow was on a ship that could travel through space, but refrained from asking anything; he didn't want to break the Wookiee's concentration.

Some time had passed by the time Chewbacca had finished; he gave a satisfied grunt and then looked directly at Harry. He seemed unsurprised at the sight of the teen, merely nodding at Harry before standing up. He stopped, however, upon seeing something to Harry's left. Harry turned around and saw Luna, who was looking at the Wookiee with a great curiosity. "What is it, Luna?"

She smiled. "I was wondering if Mr. Chewbacca could teach me some of his language. It sounds very lovely."

Chewbacca gave a snort, and said something in a gruff tone. But as he watched Luna, she opened her mouth and growled the same sort of noises back. He stared at her in astonishment, and there was silence for several moments. And then, suddenly, there was a loud bark from Chewbacca that was unmistakably laughter. He was chuckling with great amusement, and then growled something that almost sounded respectful.

Harry heard a human chuckle, and saw Solo approaching them. "He says if you had a little more practice and he didn't know any better, you'd sound like his mother."

Harry couldn't help it; he started laughing, too.

* * *

CHAPTER END

Thank you so much to everyone who checked out the story! And also thanks to everyone who left a review! Though I do have one really quick thing to address, and it's not really specific to this story. While I won't ban guest reviews now or ever, I would like to say that if you do leave a guest review, I unfortunately can't respond to you directly. That bums me out, because I feel that open communication with readers is important for authors of all stripes.

Please keep in mind: I would love to answer any and all questions you have (provided they aren't spoilers), but I can't if they are put forth in a guest review. I've seen some authors do it via pre-story responses, but I usually have very long-winded responses; collected together, they'd double the length of a given chapter, and I don't want to make you wait that long to get to the story. Plus, it would bloat the word count of a story, which I think is a little bit dishonest.

Anyhow, long-winded infodump over! Hope that you are all well, and see you again next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3: The World of War

Chapter 3: The World of War

When Ron, Neville and Hermione found them in the mess hall an hour later, Harry and Luna were paying rapt attention to a phrase that Chewbacca was saying. Harry frowned with thought, trying to decipher it. "You left…the blaster…upstairs?" he tried hopefully, but Han's smirk told him he was wrong.

"You turned the engines around," Luna said confidently.

Han shook his head. "Close. He said 'you turned the engines off'. He also called the person who did a…" He trailed off as he looked at the two of them. "Let's just say an idiot." Solo gazed over to the three who were looking on. "Join in; we'll try teaching you a language yet."

For the next couple of days, that was how they passed their free time; they would attempt to understand what the _Falcon_'s first mate was saying and repeat it back in English (or Basic, as it were). Luna was just narrowly the best of them, which seemed to annoy Hermione. Harry, for his part, was only slightly better than Neville, who was having the most troubles understanding the Wookiee. Ron was just below Hermione, and it was only when words or phrases they'd already heard were used again that Hermione seemed to have an edge over Luna. It was fortunate that they didn't have to attempt speaking the language, but even so, two days was hardly enough to fluently understand a different language.

They'd shared their names with Solo and Chewbacca, as well. Solo had given them a look of disbelief, but shrugged and said that their parents must have been unique individuals. Luna found this highly amusing, but the rest of them made no response, wrapped up in their own worries.

Chewbacca seemed to have taken to them a bit more. Due to the differences between human and Wookiee vocal cords (which Harry hoped Hermione was paying attention to, because he promptly forgot what they were), he couldn't actually call them by name. Instead, he'd given them nicknames that they could respond to in case of an emergency. Solo stubbornly refused to translate them, no matter how much they'd asked, saying he "didn't want to spoil Chewie's fun".

Harry's nickname sounded something like _arritharr_, which was close enough to his real name that it was easy to remember. He actually liked how it sounded, even if he hadn't the slightest clue what it meant.

Not long before they'd reached their first stop, Solo had called them all to the mess hall for a meeting. "Okay," he began, "we're dropping off a couple of crates of vibroaxes at Gamorr. I would've liked to start you on something simple, but I don't have the luxury of giving up a job after starting it. I will say this: do NOT, I repeat, do NOT go anywhere except the ship and the dropoff point. You'll carry the crates off as quickly as you can; Chewie and I will cover you while you do. Once we've got our payment, we're getting back on the ship, dragging up the landing skids, and going right back to space. This job is important; you wanna keep your place on the ship, this is how you earn it."

"What's so bad about this…'Gamorr'?" asked Ron curiously.

Solo smiled, but it was a humorless thing. "It's a place that has war like a star has heat. The planet's been having battles all over it as long as anyone can remember. Not exactly a safe vacation spot."

"And we're going there."

"Gotta earn credits somehow," he said, shrugging. "Anyway, that's the main thing. The other thing is a bit more personal." He looked around at them. "Now, I've tried to give you your space, and I'm not the kind to pry. Nothing against you, but if you've got trouble following you I'd like to know about it now."

Harry shook his head. Apart from Rookwood, they didn't have anyone that really knew about them, and he was still back on that desert planet, probably in prison.

"It's not going to be a problem here, but do you have identicards on you?"

Harry pulled the copy of the one Hermione had made out of his pocket, but the instant that his hand had stopped moving, the card broke into several pieces that dropped onto the deck, with a single one still pinched between his fingers. He looked up at Solo with a level gaze. "…After a fashion."

The man rolled his eyes. "One more thing to the list, then. Forget about it for now; let's focus on getting through the dropoff first. I'll get ready to drop out of hyperspace; when we start making our approach, I want you standing by in the forward hold. C'mon, Chewie."

"Can I come too?" Harry asked the pilot. He was curious to see the ship exit from 'hyperspace', as well as the planet they would be landing on.

He looked at Harry for a moment. "…Sure, why not? But once we get planetside, I want you waiting in the hold too." The three of them made their way to the cockpit, taking their seats and strapping in. Harry only had a moment to enjoy the swirling view of hyperspace before Solo said "Dropping out now," and he pushed a lever forward. The vortex became a canvas of lines, which shortened into dots as the space before them seemed to become real once more.

The planet before them was a vibrant, almost glowing green, with splotches of dark tan smeared here and there over its surface. It looked much like a marble hanging innocently in the darkness of space.

"Don't let the look fool ya, kid," Solo warned as they approached Gamorr. "Once we break atmosphere we're considered fair game until we leave again. There's someone scheduled to meet us at the landing field of Jugsmuk Station, which works fine for me; I'd rather not have to make the trip to a fortress and leave this ship out in the open."

At the word "fortress", Harry felt a pang of worry hit him. It had been almost surreal to hear Solo talk casually about the planet being in perpetual conflict, and so he hadn't really taken it very seriously. But if there really were fortresses…

As the planet began to grow outside the windows, Han turned to look at him. "We won't have to worry about communications, so you might as well head to the forward hold. You know where it's at, right?"

"Yeah; head to the mess and go right."

"You got it." He turned back to focus on his piloting, and Harry, knowing a dismissal when he saw one, left to join the others. He barely had time to open the doors to the forward hold when he was assaulted by a rush of conversation.

"A crate of axes! I mean, really-" "Crates, plural; how are we going to-" "Forget the crates, what about going into a warzone?!"

Ron and Hermione were talking in somewhat stressed tones. Luna was examining a set of crates that, Harry presumed, held the axes they'd been told about. Neville, to Harry's surprise, was sitting on a crate with his eyes half-closed and his arms folded, saying nothing.

"Are we nearly there?" Hermione asked, turning to Harry. "How far is it? What's going on?"

"He says we'll be landing in a field," Harry said. "But there should be someone there waiting for us."

"Someone?" said Hermione, frowning. "Not a group?" Harry shrugged. "Is it a flat or hilly field? Is the person going to collect from us or escort us?"

"I don't know," said Harry, growing a bit irritated. "He just said that we're landing in a field and someone's meeting us! I wasn't expecting-"

"Enough." They all stopped, turning to Neville in surprise. He had a determined look on his face. Harry felt as if he'd seen that look before. With a start, he realized where he'd seen it; during the meetings of Dumbledore's army, when Neville was intent on mastering the newest spell Harry had introduced to them.

"What is it, Neville?" asked Ron.

"Whatever the circumstances, we need a plan, and now. We have to convince Han that we're worth keeping around."

Ron and Hermione looked at each other, and then back at Neville. "Fair point, that," Ron said, looking impressed, "So, do you have any ideas?"

"Well, no," admitted Neville, "but the place we're going to sounds so dangerous."

"At least that probably makes this stop worth a lot of money," Hermione pointed out. "And without any of these 'credits' of our own, we need to find some way to get room and board."

"Okay, okay," Ron said, holding his hands up in surrender. He clearly looked unhappy, but let the matter drop.

"Did he say who might be on this planet?" asked Luna. Harry shook his head. "Perhaps we might see some interesting creatures, then."

Given the "interesting creatures" they'd already seen, Harry hoped they would continue to be more docile; he wasn't in any hurry to see the kind of creatures that Hagrid would have called "interesting". "Well, if we're going to plan, then let's do it quick. We'll be landing soon."

A few minutes later, just after they'd come up with a tentative strategy, they felt the ship come to a stop, settling on what felt to be a solid surface. Soon after, Solo and Chewbacca joined them in the hold. "Okay, I can see our contact; he's about thirty meters from the ship. You think you can get these crates off quick?"

The other four all looked to Harry, who nodded. "If you don't mind, we'd like to suggest how we unload them," said Harry.

The man raised an eyebrow. "Really? And how would that be?"

* * *

Solo and Chewbacca strode forward down the freight ramp; the former with his hand on his holstered blaster, the latter holding his crossbow loosely in his hands. Mere feet behind them were Harry and Ron, lugging one of the crates.

"These things sure are heavy," Harry commented, his voice slightly strained from the effort of carrying the long crate.

"Yeah, well, twenty vibroaxes aren't exactly light," Solo muttered without turning his head. "Just stay calm and let me do the talking."

"You're the boss," said Ron through pursed lips. He seemed to be having a slightly easier time than Harry with his longer arms, but sweat was forming on his brow all the same.

They were approaching two creatures that, from a distance, Harry had assumed were humans with unusually shaped heads. Close to, however, he saw that they looked much like creatures in the cantina back on the desert planet. They each had blue skin, and two prominent red eyes. He felt Ron's steps falter slightly. "Don't stare," Harry whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Sorry," he whispered back.

"Traveler Rana!" Solo said in a friendly voice. "How are you? I see you've got Traveler Rala with you, as usual."

"Solo," the one in front grunted. "You brought the weapons?"

"You know it. Five crates of vibroaxes, just like Jabba promised. You've got his payment, right?"

"We've got what we owe." The blue man was glowering at Solo; Harry was starting to get a funny feeling that things weren't in quite as much control as Solo wanted to pretend.

Harry and Ron set the crate down, making their way back to the ship. As they did, they held their hands at their sides, ready to draw their wands in an instant should they need to. Heading towards them were Hermione and Neville, carrying the second of the crates. "Let's hurry," Ron muttered as they passed. "I don't like this."

They had reached the ship at roughly the same time that Neville and Hermione had moved to drop the crate off. They passed Luna, who was holding her wand out and keeping a watchful eye on the area around the ship.

This had been the plan they hit upon: Luna would keep them covered from the ship while Chewbacca did the same at the dropoff point, leaving Han to do the negotiations. Whoever finished setting the crate down would keep watch on the way back to the ship, protecting the two who were just getting their crate.

"You're right," Hermione said to them as Ron and Harry carried the third crate out. "I don't like this either."

Harry could see why she'd said that; when they dropped their crate off, there were eight additional beings of the same species as the first two gathered around. Some were loading the crates onto a small wheel-less truck hovering just off the ground, but a few were standing just behind the first two. They were all staring with hard expressions at Solo, who was still talking casually. "Of course I can talk to him for you; I just need a little bit of time, is all," he was saying.

Ron and Harry shared the briefest of looks; once they set their crate down, they walked briskly back to the ship. "Should we fight?" Neville whispered while passing them.

"Just stick close once you've dropped your crate off," Harry whispered back.

"Trouble?" asked Luna as they got back to the ship.

"Well, we hope-" Harry began.

"Yes," said Ron promptly, and Harry gave up pretending to the contrary.

"Should I come with?" she asked.

"No; we need you to keep a clear path back to the ship," Ron responded as he and Harry picked up the last crate.

They drew closer to the dropoff point, and already Harry could tell that Solo was getting flustered. "I don't have those kinds of resources," he said, clearly trying to hold himself back. "All I've got are the goods that Jabba wants me to haul."

"And he expects us to hire him mercenaries by the dozen with these?" snapped one of the other blue-skinned humanoids. "To buy their services with a handful of weapons? We can barely survive with warriors marching back and forth every other day!"

"Then hang onto those," he pointed to the truck full of crates, which Harry and Ron set their last crate onto. "I'll go back to Jabba, tell him your situation, and get him to send you more supplies. But for now, I need to take payment back to him."

"Oh, we've got payment for you, all right," another snarled, reaching for her blaster. But the _Falcon_'s crew was faster; Chewbacca roared and leveled his crossbow, and there was a blaster in Solo's hand in the blink of an eye. It was only slightly later that Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville had all drawn their wands as well, with the blue-skinned woman's blaster last.

"C'mon now, Jana, don't make this hard on us all," Solo said, his voice level but unyielding.

She stared at him, and then at the rest of them. Her mouth seemed to slacken in confusion as she saw the wands being pointed. "And am I supposed to be intimidated by sticks?"

Harry was irritated at her tone, but more so that she was pointing her blaster at him in particular. _Well, if she wants a demonstration, then fine!_ "_Expelliarmus_!" he snapped.

The blaster flew out of her hand, and soared through the air before dropping down toward Harry. He caught it, pointing it back at her. "Yes, I'd say you should."

Solo and Chewbacca, being turned away from Harry, weren't staring in shock at him. The humanoid creatures, however, were. "…How…?" one muttered.

"Pay us the agreed amount and we leave," Solo said, seizing on their surprise. "We take Jabba his money, tell him that you're in trouble and send all the supplies you need. But if you start a fight, my crew and I can take you apart, and nobody wins."

Jana seemed to come to her senses. "But that doesn't help us _now_," she protested.

"What _do_ you need now?" asked Hermione.

"Water!" the alien growled. "Every time those Gamorreans fight each other, they bunker down near the place where we get our water. And this time, they broke our water filtration unit altogether; how is our settlement supposed to get anything safe to drink now?!"

"How much water do you need?"

"Kid…" warned Solo.

"Enough water to support twenty people for a day, assuming we get the filtration unit fixed now," said Jana, frowning in concentration. "If we can't get it fixed in a day, though, we'd need a whole new unit."

"We can get you the water," Hermione said. "And if we get your filtration unit fixed?"

She stared at Hermione. "…Then you'd have our greatest thanks, and we wouldn't need any extra supplies for some time. Are you saying you can…?"

Hermione nodded. "Take those back," she said, motioning to the crates, "and bring us as many water containers as you need to. Once you do, we'll send someone to fix the machine."

Solo turned to look at her questioningly, but turned back to face the group when she didn't respond. "So if we can do all that, do we have a deal?"

Rana frowned for a moment, but finally nodded. "Very well." He nodded to the driver of the hovering truck, and they drove off in the direction of a group of buildings some distance away.

Harry strode forward, handing the odd pistol back to Jana. She stared at him apprehensively, but took it all the same, holstering it without taking her eyes off of his.

"Good," said Solo. "Mind giving me some time to talk to my crew? Just so we can divert water from the right spots." The leader of the blue people nodded, and Solo led Harry and his friends about halfway back to the ship before rounding on Hermione. "What the hell are you _doing_?!" he hissed at her. "I don't have enough water to hold twenty people over for a day! Barely have enough to recycle for the seven of us!"

"You won't have to worry about that," she said. "We're…ah…" She looked to Ron for support.

"We're good at finding water," he supplied. "…On planets."

The man looked at them, disbelieving. "Oh, really? And just how does that work?"

"It helped us survive in the desert back on…" Neville said, trailing off for a few moments. "Well, before you found us."

"Still doesn't really answer my question."

"Family secret," Hermione said, not quite meeting the man's eye. "And if it works, what does it matter how we can do it if we don't harm anyone or anything in the process?"

He stared at her for several moments. "You really think you can do this?" he finally said.

"I know I can."

He threw his hands up in exasperation. "_Sure_, why not? If it'll get us outta here that much faster, fine. Do what you want."

"Thank you," said Hermione, smiling at him.

"Don't thank me; I'm not doing this for you. I just don't wanna mess up my schedule."

It wasn't long before the hovering truck had returned, with seven large canisters in the back that looked like small lidded cannons. The group of blue individuals unloaded them, setting them down in front of the truck expectantly.

"We found an underground reservoir near our ship," said Hermione knowledgeably. "Wait here; we'll take care of things."

"Why don't we send someone with you?" one of them asked suspiciously.

"Family trade secret," she replied testily. "If you see our process, it'll ruin our livelihood." She stared at them, as if daring them to challenge her.

Fortunately, none did. "Fine," one said grumpily. "You two," he said, pointing to Solo and Chewbacca. "You wait here. Just to make sure our deal is honored."

Solo didn't look happy about that in the slightest, but shrugged and stood his ground. He nodded to Harry and his friends, and they trudged towards the ship, carrying the containers with them.

"Maybe we should help you cast the charm," suggested Harry as they stopped just under the landing gear. That nagging feeling was back once more; he felt like making her do all the spell work would be a bad idea.

"Thanks, but I'll need you to form a wall around me," she said, opening one of the lids of the containers and looking inside. "It's not too different from a thermos in there." Hermione looked back up at them. "All right, it's time."

They obliged, but Harry's suspicions made him pay close attention to Hermione. She cast the Water-Making Charm into the first canister; to all their relief, there was a jet of water that burst from her wandtip, filling it up in no time.

"These are going to be a lot heavier to take back," Ron pointed out as Hermione sealed the full canister and handed it to him. "Probably have to go two people to each, just like the crates."

"Hermione…" said Harry as she opened the second container.

"I know," she said, a bead of sweat running across her brow. "I just had to confirm it. Ron, switch with me after this one."

He did, and she looked quite grateful as she finished with the second canister. She swapped out for his place on the makeshift "wall", looking back at the assembled group. "Funny," she muttered, smiling slightly.

"What's funny?" asked Neville.

"When I was a little girl I had an argument about blue aliens. A boy in my class said they were real, and I said that they couldn't be. We yelled at each other for ages before our teacher separated us. Just thinking…I guess he was right after all."

Neville chuckled. "Guess so. You suppose one of them said the same thing about humans?"

"Oh, Neville, that's just silly," she replied sternly, though the effect was somewhat ruined by her broad grin.

"That's four," Ron said a few minutes later, breathing a little heavier than normal. "Who wants to go next?"

"I suppose I can," offered Neville, switching out with Ron. "What was it again?"

"_Aguamenti_," Hermione said.

"Right, yes. _Aguamenti_!" After a few moments getting a proper bearing on how to fill the containers, Neville managed to get the rest of the containers filled to the top. With all of them sealed, Luna swapped with Neville to help carry them back. He gave a grateful nod, and Harry could tell he was struggling to keep his breathing level as he kept watch at the ship.

_I knew it,_ Harry thought to himself._ There's something strange going on with our magic. I was hoping it was just the desert planet, but looks like it's here, too._

They returned the containers to the gathered group, setting them one by one in the back of the truck. "Seven containers of fresh water," Hermione said, wiping sweat from her brow. "It wasn't easy, but we managed."

The gathered group looked at her disbelievingly. One of them withdrew a small device from a pocket, opening a container back up and passing the device over it. The object beeped, and the individual gaped at it in surprise. "It's…definitely fresh water," she said. "But it's not just fresh; I'm not detecting any sort of dirt particles or groundwater contaminants." She stared at Hermione in amazement. "How in the world did you do that?"

"Family secret, like I said," she replied, and Harry was impressed that her tiredness did not seem to impact her stubbornness one bit. "Now, your filtration unit?"

The individual with the device replaced the lid of the water container, reached into the bed of the hovering truck, and pulled up an object that looked almost like a small motor. Wordlessly, she offered it to Hermione.

Harry took it before Hermione could reach for it, and was immediately grateful that he had; it was heavier than it looked, and he could tell she was feeling exhausted already. He set it down carefully. "Did you gather up the broken bits?" he asked the blue-skinned woman.

"Well, yes, but what good will they do you?"

He didn't reply, simply holding out a hand. Shrugging, she dug into her jacket pocket and retrieved a capsule roughly the size of a baseball. "That's every piece we could find." She handed it to Harry, looking somewhat curious. She wasn't the only one; the rest of the aliens were watching Harry with open interest, and even Han and Chewie were looking expectantly at him.

_They're all waiting; do we mend this with magic?_, he wondered to himself. He opened the capsule; several metal objects were within, some very obviously broken beyond repair. _What if they don't like magic, and run us off the planet, or worse?_ Harry bent down over the machine.

"Um, pardon me," said Luna politely, "but what is that?" She pointed behind the group, and as one, they all turned to look.

_Brilliant, Luna!_ Harry wasted no time; he tapped the machine, whispering "_Reparo_!" urgently. The objects within the capsule flew back to the machine, and with several metallic plinking sounds they were part of the machine once more. He flipped a switch on the side of it and it chugged to life. "There we go!" said Harry happily, shutting the switch off. "It's all yours now."

As he stood up, however, he saw that all of the rest of the group, including Han, Chewie and his friends, were all looking where Luna had pointed. _Something tells me they didn't find a Crumple-Horned Snorkack._ He looked through a gap between two of the blue people's necks and blinked in surprise.

In the distance, two groups of humanoid creatures looked like they were charging against each other. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but their faces looked tusked; almost piglike. The two groups were swinging weapons at each other in broad arcs, and even so far away, Harry could hear the din of combat.

"Don't run," Jana informed Harry. "They haven't spotted us yet. Just set it in the back of the truck slowly, and we'll go from there."

"We're not 'going' anywhere yet," Solo grumbled, though he was taking care to stay still as well.

"Your payment; very well," Rana hissed. She fumbled in her pockets, drawing a number of what looked like cards and handing them backwards to Solo. "The help is appreciated. But now we need to worry about any of us being alive to enjoy our transaction."

"That's your problem, not mine."

She chuckled softly. "They'll go for your ship first before our hovertruck. A freighter would make a good base for them."

"Over my dead body."

"Don't tempt Lady Luck; she's already dealt us a bad hand today."

Solo didn't have a response for that, save to ready his blaster.

Luna looked between them all, and then at the figures in the distance. "I know a way that might distract them. How far are you from your homes?"

"A short speeder ride," muttered Rala. "Why?"

"Can you all fit in your truck?"

Rana seemed to understand something. "You're not seriously going to-"

"It's the only way. Once they notice you, we'll get their attention."

She looked back at Luna. "…We can't let children give their lives for us."

"No one's dying today," Harry said firmly. "Trust us, will you? Get to safety and worry about us then."

Rana was silent for a time. Finally, she said "I'd shake your hand if I could, but given the circumstances-"

"Good enough. Take care of yourselves."

She nodded. "Okay, everyone; in the truck. Ready…go!" They all raced to the truck, piling into the interior and truck bed. It roared to life and sped off into the distance. Far away, they saw the creatures take notice of the speeding truck. Most of them continued their fight, but a portion broke off and prepared to give chase. "Right, then. Han, Chewie; if you would kindly get the ship ready for takeoff."

"Gladly. Don't take too long; I'm not waiting forever." He and Chewie sped towards the Falcon, and Luna strode forward, pointing her wand at the distant group. "_Verdimillious!_"

There was a loud bang, and then an explosion of green light bloomed from a point feet away from the group that had been ready to pursue the truck. Harry squinted at the bright light, and he just made out the far away humanoids shaking their heads angrily. A few moments later, Harry saw the green light vanish. As it did, he saw that Luna had gotten their attention all too well. The entire group, combatants and pursuers, were all charging at them now, holding what might have been axes high and roaring with bloodlust…

"Time to go!" Ron said, grabbing Hermione's hand and taking off towards the ship. "Harry, Luna, let's go!"

"Ron, I can run on my own!" snapped Hermione, yanking her hand out of his and struggling to keep pace with his long, lanky strides. "Slow down, would you?"

Harry smirked, and had almost turned to Luna when he heard her cast the spell a second time. "Now we can run," she informed him, slightly out of breath.

"C'mon!" he yelled, taking her by the hand and running for the ship. He felt like the ground was beginning to shake slightly with the thunderous footfalls of the approaching horde. Their roars were becoming clearer, and several gave shouts of triumph…

They raced up the ramp, and no sooner had they done so than it began to rise up. Harry hurled them through the door where Neville was standing guard, and it hissed shut once the three of them had made it through. A quick glance saw Ron and Hermione panting as they stood near the doors into the ship. "Get to the cabin," he said to the others gathered there, releasing Luna. "I'll tell him to go!"

The four of them nodded, all too out of breath to really respond. His robes whipped behind him as his feet clattered on the cargo bay floor, hammering the button to open the door to the main hold. He tore through it, racing down the galley until he skidded to a stop near the open cockpit door. "We're all on, let's go!"

"About time! Strap in, junior, we're takin' off!" Han yelled at him. Harry barely had time to sit in his seat before the ship gave a great upward jolt, and they began to rise through the air. The ship banked, and far below, he could see the green-skinned warriors throwing their axes in the general direction of the ship. The mob seemed to fall on itself, and he just managed to see their battle recommence before they'd flown over, headed up into the clouds.

"Not exactly the best of parting terms, but I'll take it!" Han said. He let out a breath, patting his vest pocket gently. "Looks like you kids are a good luck charm; might have to keep you around a little longer!...But just a little longer."

"Sure," gasped Harry, finally feeling his breath catch up to him. They broke through the atmosphere, and the horizon of Gamorr slowly became curved. Even having just escaped their predicament, Harry couldn't help but be struck by the beauty of it. _Wonder if they'd be so eager to kill each other if they saw the planet like this?_ He blinked, frowning. Where had that come from?

Han chuckled, tapping a few buttons. "No, really, I mean it. Having you around to smooth things over like that was a real help. If you can pull out a few more tricks like that, then maybe-"

At that moment, there was an insistent beeping from Harry's console. "Uh, Han? The light's blinking."

The man looked over to see the light Harry was indicating, cursed, and turned to Chewbacca. "Well, there you go, Chewie. People shooting at us before we leave; everything's back to normal." He started punching a few buttons. "You take over here; angle the deflectors while I charge up the main guns." He hopped out of the pilot's seat, motioning for Harry to get up as well. "You ever used a turret before?"

"What? No!" Harry said in surprise as he stood.

"You're about to."

There was a crackling from where Harry had been sitting, and then a tinny voice came from a small section of the console. _"Well, well, what have we here?"_ said the voice. _"A nice little freighter, just for us. What could be on the inside of this present, I wonder?"_

Han leaned over the console, thumbing a switch. "Sorry to disappoint, but we're just ferrying ration packs and water canisters. There's nothing worthwhile to take."

_"On the contrary, my friend. It's mealtime for us, and we're VERY hungry. But I'm feeling generous; if you let us board you and hand over your provisions and whatever else you might have, we may let you limp along to the next supply depot."_

Han scowled, flipping the switch back off. "Damn fools. C'mon!" he said to Harry, running out of the cockpit. Harry followed, and the man skidded to a halt outside the gunwell. "Get strapped in; I'll guide you through it as we go."

He began climbing down the ladder, and Harry only waited a moment after he had disappeared to begin climbing up it. At the top was a cramped, bubble-like room with a suspended chair and an octagonal window. Just outside the window was a large, four-pronged aperture that Harry assumed was some kind of cannon. He sat down in the chair, buckling himself in and looking around for something that might help him. A small headset was dangling off of a hook; he grabbed it and heard Han's voice as he started to put it on. "-n yet?"

"What?" said Harry, adjusting the microphone.

"I said you in yet, kid?"

"I think so."

"Good. We don't have time for a step by step, so just take the controls in front of you." Harry did so, feeling a tension and nervousness beginning to well up within him. "Thumb triggers fire, move it to aim. Don't bother lining up a shot by eyesight; use the targeting computer to center a shot."

"Er…" _What do I do this is insane I don't know what I'm doing-_

"Just point and click. You'll do fine. And if you don't, it's not like I'll be around to complain."

"Great," muttered Harry, with as much sarcasm as he could muster. He moved the controls to his left, and he yelped as he felt his entire seat lurch to move along with it. Had it not been for the straps holding him in, the sudden movement would have launched him right out of his chair. "Controls are a bit sensitive," he noted dryly.

"Well, you'd better get used to them quick; here they come!" warned Han. Another ship was fast approaching them. It looked oddly graceful; a sleek, torpedo-like body, with podlike structures attached to its left and right by struts. "Nova Courier," he informed Harry. "Be careful; it's got friends. Looks like three Rihkxyrks." Three smaller ships darted out from behind the larger one; these were smaller and more angular. "Shame we don't have any ion cannons; that Courier'd go for a decent amount of credits."

"What are ion cannons?"

"Non-lethal and finicky like you wouldn't believe."

"Do these have a non-lethal setting?"

"Nope. It's us or them."

A beeping sounded from the gun in front of him, and a small panel displayed a screen that featured a number of intersecting squares formed into a grid. The grid doubled and then spaced itself a distance from the other, sandwiching a small circle in the centre between them. Four blips appeared on the screen, and a sort of icy cold came over him. _This is it. We live or die here; it's no different than fighting Voldemort._ He felt his hands steady and his breath slow. He wasn't calm, by any stretch, but for the first time since strapping in he felt that razor's edge of mortality hovering over him. And just like any other time, he didn't flinch.

Harry clenched the triggers, aiming for the smaller fighters surrounding the large ship. With a powerful thrumming, the cannon spat bursts of red light at the enemies, but they broke away, scattering themselves far from their fellow craft. The larger one drew closer, and Harry saw that bolts of energy were beginning to shoot towards them, too. As if… "Han, can you get the turrets on the other ship?"

"I'll add it to the list!" Han shouted over the din of cannon fire.

Harry smirked for the briefest of moments before returning to the task at hand. If he could knock out the turrets or maybe take out the engines, he could disable them without killing anyone. The problem was that he could feel the power of the cannon he was using was considerable; scoring a non-lethal hit was going to be even more difficult than getting a hit to begin with, and they were fast enough already. Still…if he could…

The view through his porthole rotated, and he realized that Chewie must be doing everything he could to stay evasive. While that did make aiming harder, he wasn't about to whinge at the Wookiee; they were still alive, after all.

There was a flash of light at the very corner of the window, and he felt a shockwave rock the ship slightly. "Hah!" crowed Han. "Got one!"

Harry felt his insides squirm. On the one hand, the odds against them had lessened quite a bit. But on the other, a ship had just been destroyed, killing the pilot aboard. He swallowed. _It's us or them…us or them…_

He saw one of the smaller ones dart in front of the porthole, and for a split-second, was right inside the circle on the targeting computer. _Now!_ Time seemed to slow down somewhat. He could feel a bead of sweat rolling down his brow…feel the pounding of his heart…all he needed to do was press the triggers. Just click them down and…

…But as the moment began to speed up again, as he felt the ship shake slightly, he still hadn't fired. The ship began to leave the targeting circle, and still he hadn't attacked. He swung to track the vehicle, but it vanished past the edge of the window to space. _…Han will have to get that one._

The ship shook once more, and he heard the growling of Chewbacca in his ear. "Better stay awake, kid!" cut in Han's voice. "We're losing deflector shields; those go and bad things start happening!"

Why? Why hadn't he fired? He gritted his teeth, spraying bursts of red light at their attackers. Two skipped off of the larger craft; hopefully it meant that they were losing shields as well. The view outside whizzed by again, and he only glimpsed ships at the very edges of the window, unable to line up a shot at any of them. _Come on! You've got to stop them!_

The stars rolled over and over, before finally coming to a position where they were dots rather than blurs of lights. It happened again; one of the little, angular crafts flew right into the center of his sights. _Now!_ He didn't fire. _Now!_ He…he couldn't fire…_You've GOT to!_ Gritting his teeth, drawing his breath in as a hiss, he pulled the thumb triggers. However, it was too late; the ship had zoomed out of view again.

He heard another explosion. "That's two; what's wrong, kid, you fall outta your seat?" Han's voice said. It was a little strange, probably from Harry's tenseness; it almost sounded like there was a concerned note hiding somewhere in his teasing tone.

_C'mon, focus! I've got to do it!_ Harry fired wildly at the larger ship; it absorbed the shots, and with a flicker across the back side, he saw one of his shots scorch a line across the top of it. "The big one!" he said into his headset. "Its back end is unprotected!" _If I can't, then maybe Han can._

"Got it!"

The larger ship lurched away from his firing arc, and the last small ship began to rake the _Falcon_ with bolts of light. He heard an alarm begin to go off. "What's that?"

"Our rear deflector's down. Just stay sharp and let Chewie worry about that!"

"But the others are-!" Harry was cut off as another blast sizzled right over his porthole. It seemed that the large ship had decided to take Harry's strategy of eliminating the turrets, which meant that he was now being targeted directly. _I can't let the back get hit! The others are resting back there!_ "Don't let them die!"

There was a pause before he heard Han's voice over the headset. "Chewie, fly at them head-on." There was an answering growl of doubt. "I know, just trust me!" The ship swung around, and there was a shake before another alarm began sounding. "Dammit, that's not good…"

Harry didn't have time to turn or ask what he meant; the last little ship screamed overhead, heading towards the large ship. Harry suddenly had an idea. _Maybe while it's headed away I can hit the engines! Then, while it's floating off, the big one will have to stop and help, and we can jump away!_ With that in mind, he concentrated with all his might on his targeting computer. He saw, in slow motion once more, the blip on the screen drift into the center. _And…NOW! _He pulled the thumb triggers, and saw two rays of energy launch at the fighter. One missed, but the other lanced across the lit portion of the back, where the engine undoubtedly was.

The craft shook, and then careened out of control. It spun in a slow arc towards the large craft, which began to veer away from its damaged compatriot. To Harry's horror, the smaller ship lurched into the path of the bigger one, crashing into the large engines at the back of the craft's belly. His breath caught in his chest. _No…_ There was a moderate explosion, and then a series of smaller explosions rocked the large ship. Debris rained across the larger ship's hull, gouging great holes in its shell. There was a short pause, and then he saw the ship rip apart in a large fireball, flaring outward before seeming to collapse in on itself.

He was dimly aware that the _Falcon_ proceeded onward as his hands fell from the controls. Harry slumped in his chair, feeling completely numb. His heartbeat thumped in his ears, and his breath returned, but his lungs didn't seem to be holding enough air; he had to keep breathing faster and faster.

He thought he heard Han's voice in his ear. "Not bad, kid! That was a hell of a trick shot!" Harry didn't respond. Slowly, he raised his trembling hands to stare at them.

"You hear me, kid? C'mon, respond."

His hands…the hands that had pulled the triggers. The hands that had meant the end of those ships and all the lives aboard.

"Harry!"

* * *

Ron came to a halt near the ladder of the turrets. Han climbed out, looking at him. "What's going on?" Ron asked the man. "I heard an alarm…"

"That's the life support. It's been knocked offline."

Ron gulped, looking at the man. "…And that's bad," he said, more to confirm how much danger they were in than to question if there was any danger.

Han gave a wry grin. "That depends on how long you can hold your breath. C'mon. Anyone that's awake better make this a priority!"

"…Just me, then. Wait, where's Harry?"

A look almost like concern passed over his face before it returned to its normal state, and he walked briskly towards the living area. "He's still in the upper turret. Someone'll need to talk to him once we're done here."

"What?! If he's hurt-"

"I'll explain later!" he snapped, yanking up the access panels. "But if we don't get this fixed we're gonna have bigger problems. Grab that!" said Han, pointing to a tray full of objects sitting near the computer station.

Ron rushed over to grab it, and as he returned Han was already crawling into the access pit. "Okay; first I need the power scanner. It's the one with a switch and a screen." He looked into the tray, and to his relief, it was right on top. Screen looked blurry, though; what looked like a blob of grease had hardened on one corner. "Here," said Ron, handing him the scanner.

"Thanks." He took the offered tool and wiggled himself into one of the clusters of pipes. "Now let's see…of course it's not the close one. Knew I should've sprung for the mechanical dianoga at that junk trader's…"

Ron eyed the pipes, a sudden idea dawning in his mind. _Wait, if something needs fixing, then…_ He drew his wand from his sleeve, making sure that Han was turned away. Ron muttered "_Reparo_", pointing the wand at a square-shaped outline in a section of blackened material. Several bits of metal shot upwards from deeper in the access pit, coalescing to form a circuit panel that fitted itself into the square-shaped outline. There was a thunk, and the warning alarm suddenly shut off. He hurriedly tucked his wand away, trying not to look too suspicious.

Han muttered something, and a moment later he had pulled himself up out of the pit. "Huh. That's weird; I didn't even mess with anything yet." He eyed Ron curiously. "What'd you do?"

"Nothing much." Ron blinked. "Er! I mean…n-nothing."

Han grinned. "You've been holdin' out on me. Well, I'll take the help when it means breathing." He patted Ron on the shoulder. "Congrats, kid. You guys have earned your keep."

"Oh. Well…thanks."

His grin faded, though it stopped before becoming a frown. "Someone's gonna have to talk to Harry. We were under fire earlier and…"

"Is he hurt?!" said Ron immediately, his worry and temper flaring at once.

"No. Well, not physically. Here, I'll come with." The two made their way to the gunwell. Han stopped Ron before he could climb the ladder. "Now before you talk with him, listen. We were being attacked by pirates. If they had boarded us, they would've killed or sold off all of us. I've dealt with them before; I know what they're capable of. Harry saved this ship from being destroyed, but to do it…"

Ron felt a slight chill come over him. "He took them out."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but he's never killed before, has he?"

As far as he knew, no. Although, that business with Quirrell…"No," he said, deciding to simplify things.

Han nodded. "Figured as much. Do what you can for him, and if you can get him out of there, let me know. After that, get some rest; it's been a busy day."

Ron nodded, and watched Han as he left. _Hmm…I might need some help for this one._ He left, returning a short while later with Hermione. She looked slightly tired, but her expression was full of determination after the situation Ron had described; she climbed the ladder up to the top gun, stopping on the last rung and looking around the space. Harry was sitting in the chair, staring at his hands with wide eyes. She squeezed herself into the cramped area. "Hey, Harry." No response. "Han said we need to get some rest. Mind coming down?"

"You go ahead." Harry's voice was distant, and he barely seemed to notice her.

"Please, Harry. Sitting in here without sleep isn't going to help anyone."

"Can't sleep. Not now."

"Harry…"

"They're dead, Hermione." He turned to face her, and a haunted look was dominating his face. "I…I didn't mean to, and they…they…"

"Harry, you saved our lives," said Hermione firmly. "If you hadn't fought back, we'd all be dead."

"But…"

"Did you try to ask them to stop?" said Hermione, cutting him off.

"Han did," said Harry, still looking haunted.

"And did they?"

"…No."

Hermione sighed. "Then it sounds like you tried to give them a chance, and they didn't take it. That's not your fault." Harry still seemed rooted in place, and Hermione shook her head in frustration. "Ron told me that Han said that they hit something pretty important before you stopped them. Who would have been able to fight them off if you'd just sat there and let them hit us?" She paused, steeling herself before continuing. "If we die, who's supposed to help Ginny?"

Harry gave a jolt in his seat. "She…but she'll be…" He looked at Hermione properly. "…I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Just come down and get some rest, all right?"

Harry nodded, and slowly followed Hermione down the ladder and back into the walkway, where Ron was waiting for them. Standing right outside of the gunwell was Han, holding a glass of water and an already-made ration pack. Harry raised an eyebrow at him.

"I decided to try the fruit, but the smell's too much for me," said Han casually. "Thought you'd want it instead; can't waste too much food on my budget." He handed Harry the food and glass, striding away from the three of them and toward the cockpit.

More to occupy himself than anything, Harry held the glass in the crook of his arm and tried a bite of the ration pack. Compared to the one he'd had before, it wasn't half-bad. Not great, but at least there was a hint of a nice flavor to it.

Ron's stomach rumbled. Hermione looked at him with a scowl on her face. "What?" he said before she could open her mouth. "It smells good!"

"Do you ever think about anything other than _food_?" she said in exasperation.

"It's almost mealtime, and I'm hungry!"

Hermione opened her mouth to retort, but stopped as she heard a noise from Harry. "Harry? What is it?"

He was laughing. Harry wasn't feeling particularly joyful, but a sense of relief was coming to him, helped along by the food. Seeing Ron and Hermione bicker was, at least, familiar ground. "…It's nothing," he said, smirking to himself and taking another bite of food.

Hermione gave him a searching look, but dropped the matter. She looked around briefly. "So, what do you think is happening with our magic?" she asked in a low voice.

Harry frowned, thinking it over as he chewed. "I reckon there's something different about where we are," he responded quietly. "Maybe it's because we're so far from home?"

Hermione considered this for a few moments. "I wonder why that would be, though? What's so special about our planet and magic?" Harry shrugged.

"Wait, what are we talking about?" asked Ron, at the same volume as the other two. "What's going on with our magic?"

"You must have noticed; every time we use a spell, it seems to make us a little more exhausted. Surely you realized by now?" she asked, her eyebrows raised.

"I thought it was just the weird air."

"That's-" She blinked. "…That's a good point, actually. The air on these alien worlds might be slightly different than what we're used to."

"I think it is," Harry said distantly. "Back on that desert planet, I felt…well, it was a sort of…" He trailed off, looking at his ration pack. What was it he'd felt, really? He'd initially thought it felt like a pull, as if something was directing him somewhere. But that wasn't it entirely. It had also been…a sort of calling. As if something had reached out, and a part of him had reached back…But had that actually been what happened? Or was he only wishing it were so? Or perhaps, with the desert heat, it had merely been in his own head.

"Harry?"

He shook himself out of his reverie. "…Nothing. Maybe I imagined it." He took a large gulp of water, draining the glass in a single go. Taking his last bite of food, he crumpled up the now-empty bag, his voice returning to normal volume. "I think I do need a lie-down after all. I'll pitch this wrapper and then come back to the room. Erm…where does it go, again?"

"Here, we'll go with you," said Hermione, leading them back in the direction of the cargo hold with the cushions and table.

As the three left the gunwell area, their echoing footsteps fading away, Han appeared from behind the corner, looking in the direction they'd left. His face was inscrutable as he headed to the cockpit.

* * *

The smuggler stepped into the Falcon's cockpit, nodding to his co-pilot. "Nice flyin', Chewie. Pulled us outta the fire again."

(("After the other twenty, I'm used to it."))

Han smirked, but it fled almost immediately. He pressed a switch on the door, closing and locking it behind him before sitting in the pilot's chair. "Harry was the one that pulled off that shot on the Rihkxyrk. First time he killed, apparently."

Chewbacca turned to look at him. (("How is he?")) It wasn't very obvious with all the hair, but the Wookiee had a look of concern on his face.

"He'll be fine. He's with the other kids now." He flipped a few switches, then checked the readout to his left. He nodded, then looked over to Chewie, who was still staring at him. "…What?" His co-pilot didn't respond, merely continuing to stare at him. "He'll be _fine_." He shifted slightly under the continued stare. "You heard back from our contact yet?"

His first mate nodded. (("None of them are on the Tattooine planetary board. And we'd know if Jabba put a price on them."))

Han frowned. "Hm. So they don't have any local bounties on them, then."

(("You can't seriously think they're on the run from someone in the sector; they look like they stumbled right off a moisture farm."))

"I don't know," he said, sighing. "But those little sticks of theirs can manipulate all sorts of metal. You saw them disarm that Duros, and I caught Ron tucking one of those sticks away right after the life support system _somehow_ started working again. That kind of tech, disguised as a stick? That's not cheap. And it's not even counting whatever trick they pulled to drag up all that water."

(("Think they can use the Force?"))

Han snorted. "Not those old war stories again…"

(("Be as stubborn as you want, I know what I saw. Maybe they were raised by a Jedi."))

"Raised by one of the people the Empire hates most? That'd do _wonders_ for us keeping a low profile." He flipped a few more switches, sighing. "I don't know about that, but there is something weird about them. They were muttering about magic earlier; probably code for something." He rolled his eyes at Chewbacca's pointed look. "Not _that_. But it could be slang for some kind of scheme."

Chewie gave him a sideways glance. (("You going to kick them off?"))

"Wouldn't want to get rid of the new help so soon after you've gotten attached," he teased. A beep came back from his console, and he nodded as he made a few final adjustments. "But tell our friend to widen the search. Don't mention this 'Earth', just see if someone outside the system is looking for our passengers. 'Til then…might as well get some use outta them."

He pushed a lever forward slowly, and the stars around them began to lengthen as they zoomed into hyperspace once more.

* * *

CHAPTER END

I apologize beforehand if the formatting for Chewie's dialogue fails; as much as I love this site, it doesn't seem to like certain symbols very much. But anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, please let me know what you thought!

P.S. Almost 10,000 words to this chapter! Last time that happened, it was an MST3K-inspired chapter of a different story. Perhaps next time I can meet that goal...


	4. Chapter 4: Hard Work in Hyperspace

Chapter 4: Hard Work in Hyperspace

_There was a dark, cold feeling all around him…He couldn't move…couldn't see…_

"_Why…"_

_He struggled, trying to break free with all his might. But he still felt that creeping cold strangling him even tighter…_

"_Why did you…"_

_He clenched his mouth, terrified of that dark, frigid air. He mustn't shout…mustn't…_

"…_why did you kill me…"_

_Suddenly, the cold constricted powerfully, and he gave a cry of pain and anguish. But now the cold was stealing his breath…stealing his strength…stealing his life. Just like…_

_No…No!...NOOO!_

Harry jolted suddenly, his eyes flying open as he gasped for breath. The air felt like it drove away the cold he had felt, even if it was a little musty. He reached for his glasses, pushing them onto his face and grasping for the lamp on the table next to his four-poster. It took several seconds to notice there wasn't a lamp. Nor was there a table, or a four-poster. After realizing this, he racked his brain in a sudden panic, trying to figure out where he was.

…and then it clicked into place. Stateroom. On a spaceship.

He took a deep breath, trying hard to bring his breathing back to normal. As he did, he noticed that he seemed to be the last one to wake; all of the other beds were empty. With a sigh, he washed up before heading out to the living area in the main hold. He raised a hand, but stopped his greeting when he saw the scene before him.

Han was sitting on a shipping crate dragged up to the table. Opposite him were with Ron, Luna, and Neville on the bench seat; they all seemed to be playing some sort of card game, with several ration packs strewn around the table. Meanwhile, Chewbacca was watching Hermione as she was working with what looked like some sort of keyboard. Everybody seemed to be deep in concentration, and nobody was talking; part of him felt almost as if he'd intruded on some sort of exam. Then Han spoke, and the spell was broken.

"Now, remember. These cards can change at a moment's notice, so don't get too comfortable. You gotta have…" He noticed Harry watching their game. "Well good morning, kid. Pull up a seat; we're learning how to play sabacc." He turned back to the others. "Like I was saying, you gotta have the sense to know when to take the risk, and when to take your chips and go."

Harry shrugged, squeezing onto the seat and looking around at the others. Ron was frowning at his hand, Neville looked cautiously hopeful, and Luna was smiling serenely as she studied her cards. Since he was sitting next to Neville, he peered over his shoulder at the cards. They seemed to be an interesting mix between Exploding Snap cards and traditional Muggle playing cards; large pictures dominated the face of all the cards, but there were little symbols on the top centre which looked like numbers, and lettering he couldn't read on the bottom centre. In fact, to his surprise, the numbers looked more or less the same as the ones he was used to seeing. Neville's current hand had a coin with an "8" above it, a cup with a "7", and another cup with an "8".

Ron nudged a fruit ration pack into the center of the table to join a small pile of other rations. "I'll raise another fruit."

Han nodded impassively. "All right. That's the end of betting; now it's time for the shift."

Harry watched Neville's cards as the cup with an "8" swirled with color, becoming what looked like a military commander of some kind. He wasn't quite sure whether that was good or bad, and from the looks of it, neither did Neville.

"So, we all gonna call now?" Each of them nodded in turn, pushing another ration pack into the middle. "Okay; let's see 'em." Neville laid his cards down. Han shook his head sympathetically. "Sorry, kid. You went over twenty-three; you bombed out." Neville gave a disappointed sigh, but shrugged it off and looked at Luna expectantly.

She laid down five cards, seemingly quite pleased with herself. Harry saw that one featured a pilot of some kind, another showed an imperious-looking woman, a third displayed an evil face with a ghastly smile, a fourth showed a creature that looked almost comically foolish, and the last held the picture of a flask with a number looking like a "3" above it. "The art is simply delightful, isn't it?" she said to Neville, smiling dreamily. "I almost had another special picture, but it changed on the last round."

Han looked as if he didn't know whether she was serious or not; in that, Harry thought, they had some common ground. "That's, uh…one," the older man said, raising an eyebrow at her. "You got one point."

"Oh, did I? …That's good, yes?"

He stared at her for a moment. "…Sure, I guess. Still, I think I've got you beat." He laid down four cards; there was another pilot one, a coin with a "2", a coin with a "1", and what looked like a staff with another "2". "That's twenty for me." He smirked at Ron. "Well, no more secrets. How'd you do?" Ron began laying his cards down. "I know, you didn't win this round, but it takes a few…to…" He trailed off, his eyebrows suddenly furrowed.

Harry looked over. Ron's four cards were a set of scales, a skull, another imperious-looking lady, and a staff with a "2". "What?" asked Harry. "What is it?"

"Minus twenty-two," Ron said, his voice suddenly becoming very smug. "You did say that twenty-three was the best score, either positive or negative, didn't you?" he asked Han.

Han rolled his eyes, flicking the rest of his ration packs into the middle. "Ah, that's beginner's luck. Enjoy it while it lasts." He stood up from his crate, stretching. "Well, we can play another round later. For now, I want you two…" At this, he pointed to Harry and Neville. "…to help me get the front holds organized. We're going to have a _lot_ of containers from our next stop." He looked over at his copilot. "How's she coming, Chewie?"

Chewbacca rumbled something back in Wookie. Harry caught the words "fix" and "time", but the rest was beyond him. "That's fine. We've got another day before we get to Teth; keep practicing." He looked over at Ron and Luna. "Now that our game's over, you two should get started too. And put those ration packs back."

"But I won!" protested Ron. "Why do I have to clean up?"

"You'll have to clean up if you go to a casino, too; can't cash out if you don't have your credits in order. Consider it good practice," he said with a smirk. "Now let's go, you two. Once we're there I'm not planning on staying planetside for long."

Harry and Neville followed the man out of the living area and towards the front of the ship, where the crates of axes had been just the day before. "I suppose I'll give you the good news first. Most of these containers are empty or light, so we're not doin' a lot of heavy lifting. Plus, we're movin' 'em all away from the doors to fit the stuff we'll be picking up, so it's not gonna be too complicated."

"…Okay…" Harry said, frowning. Then, sighing as he felt the question hanging in the air, he asked "And the bad news?"

"You need to be _very_ careful with them; some of the stuff we're carrying isn't exactly durable, so this is gonna take a while. And before I forget, Teth might not have its fighting on the surface, but it's not a whole lot less dangerous." He looked between them. "…You've got something to protect you, right?" Harry bit his lip, nodding. "Good. Now let's get these moved. And remember: _careful_."

Harry was no stranger to moving items; he would often have to carry things for Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia, but they were usually heavy or at least cumbersome. Some of these were almost feather-light. It certainly wasn't difficult work, but it was every bit as time-consuming as Han had said. After a few minutes of silence, Han spoke up. "Yeesh, this place got quiet. Let's liven things up a little, huh?"

Harry smirked. "I suppose a conversation might do that."

"There's an idea! So…tell me more about this planet of 'Earth'. Hey, _careful_!" he snapped, as Harry stumbled slightly.

"S-Sorry," said Harry. He hadn't meant to, but it was one of the topics he was least keen to discuss. "Well…it's got lots of land." He looked away from Han, trying desperately to think of something. "And ocean."

"Hey, not bad. You've managed to narrow it down to a good half of the civilized galaxy."

Harry sighed in frustration. "Well, there're seven continents, and one ocean. Better?"

"A little," Han said, setting down a large barrel. "But if I'm gonna get you back, I'll need more than that. What's the system?"

Harry was beginning to sweat. _'System?' What does that even mean?_ "Erm…I…" He set his box down, taking care to keep his back turned so Han couldn't see his face. "I'm having trouble remembering."

"Okay, fine. What about you?" he asked, looking to Neville.

"Me?" Neville said. "I-I…why would…what was the question?"

"The _system_," said Han slowly, enunciating every syllable. "What _system_ is it in?"

"Erm…the…solar system?"

"Yes, the solar system," he repeated, a note of impatience in his voice. "Which one?"

Harry looked over his shoulder at Neville. His fellow Gryffindor looked completely lost, and looked over to him, shrugging his shoulders. "Er…" Harry said, thinking as quickly as he could, "maybe Hermione might know."

Han let out a long sigh. "You cannot be serious…you don't even know your own system?" Harry tensed, wondering just how they'd find a way to explain this. "…Just how sheltered were you kids?"

Harry barely avoided visibly sighing with relief; the opening was so obvious he could have driven a truck through it. "A lot. We only went on the one spaceflight, and…well." He made sure his crate was set in place before turning around.

Their pilot was shaking his head in exasperation. "Well, at least you're learning quickly. Maybe by the time we get you home, you'll have picked up a few things."

The black-haired Gryffindor allowed himself a small smile. "I hope so." He walked over to pick up another crate to move. "So, what about you? Tell us about your home planet."

Han smirked. "You wanna hear about Corellia? Dunno what I can tell you that you wouldn't see on a holovid."

"Well, we've got a while. Humor us," said Harry, making a mental note to find out what on earth a "holovid" was.

"Hmm…I guess it's got about anything you might look for in a Core world. Ships, seas, savannas, handsome spacers-" At this, he mimed tipping an invisible hat, and Neville snorted. "About the only stain on it is all the Star Destroyers in orbit."

"Star Destroyers?" asked Harry, confused.

"Yeah, I'm not partial to 'em either," Han said, apparently mistaking Harry's confusion for disgust. "The Empire's part of the reason I haven't been back in a while…Well, that and trying to pull enough credits together to pay off my debts. Speaking of, let's keep moving these, yeah?"

Harry started. He'd been so wrapped up in the conversation he'd forgotten the purpose of them being there. "Right. Sorry." The rest of their time passed in silence; it seemed the pilot might have been just as reluctant to talk about his home planet as they were about theirs.

* * *

After some time (the lack of clocks was really throwing him off), they were finally finished. The three returned to the common area, where Chewie was still overseeing Hermione. "Well?" asked Han.

Chewbacca growled a response. Given that he nodded slightly and that he used the words "than before", his fellow Gryffindor must have made decent progress.

"Hey, I'll take it. We still got that Brosso Mark II somewhere around here?" Chewie responded with a ((yes)). "Good. Once she's finished with the modulator, have her start on that." Chewie asked him something else. "I'm going to look for our transfer cables while we've still got some time. You two," he said, looking between Harry and Neville, "can get lessons from Chewie now that we've got our crates in order."

"What about Ron and Luna?" asked Neville.

"I'll check back in with them once I've finished lookin' at those transfer cables." He smirked at Harry's curious look. "They're busy with their own stuff, but you'll see them by supper. Play nice, Chewie." He gave his first mate a grin, then left down the galley.

Harry wasn't quite sure what their "instructor" gave them to work on, but it sure had a lot of wires. He and Neville tried their best with it, and by the time that supper had come, he felt they'd made some good progress given how they started, and he explained it as such to the group.

Han raised an eyebrow as he toyed with his ration. "…You lit the coolant coil on fire?"

"In the beginning, but we did get better," said Neville, who looked somewhat pleased with himself.

"I think we picked up using the tools rather quickly," added Harry hurriedly at the look of utter disbelief.

"…You lit the _coolant coil_ on _fire_." Han's eyebrow rose higher still.

"Only twice, and we put them out right away!" Harry insisted.

The man opened his mouth again, but Chewbacca cut him off with a forceful growl. "What?" he said defensively. "It's a legitimate-" Han broke off at a louder, more insistent growl, sighing. "Fine. We'll keep working on it."

"What about you, Ron?" Harry asked, eager to move to a different topic. "What have you and Luna been doing?"

"Han's been teaching us about the engines," said Ron around forkfuls of food. He seemed to be learning to tolerate the bland taste of normal ration packs, if the way he was devouring his current one was any indication. "Nothing hands-on like you, just studying."

"And a good thing, too," Han muttered. "Something goes wrong with a spare part and we're out a spare part. Something goes wrong with the engines while we're in hyperspace, and there'll be pieces of this ship in five different systems. If we're lucky."

"And if we're unlucky?" Ron promptly asked.

He smirked. "Then it's pieces of _us_ in five systems." Ron froze in mid-bite, which Han seemed to find amusing. "Anyway, speaking of stuff you can do, we're picking up our next job when we get to Teth. I'm almost afraid to ask, but…any of you happen to be good with animals?"

Luna's face lit up. Combined with her already protuberant eyes, the effect rather reminded Harry of Hedwig for a split second. "Luna adores animals," Harry informed Han.

"What kind of animals might they be?" asked Luna, staring at Han with her usual intensity.

"Can-cells. You ever heard of 'em?"

"Only just now," she responded brightly. "Tell me all about them."

The man rolled his eyes. "Of course. They're about three meters long, bit thin; the ones we're shipping are tame, so they should be pretty friendly. Uh…four wings, glowing tails…" He thought for a moment. "Anything else…oh, yeah. They're bugs."

"Bugs?" said Hermione in disgust. "We're transporting _bugs_?" Harry could tell from the look on her face that she was remembering the Blast-Ended Skrewts, even if those had been more like lobsters than anything.

"It pays and we need to resupply, so yes, we are. You don't have to like it, but you'll help if you want to keep eating my food."

She folded her arms, staring at him for several seconds. He stared back, supremely unconcerned. "…And just who are we delivering them to?"

"An Aleena named Tann Duriyan on Sakiya. He used to be a pretty big racer up until a few years ago, but he's retired now. He'll do betting, but he doesn't race anymore. Oh, which reminds me: if we get our business done quick enough, we might even have enough time to put down a few bets of our own."

Neville looked at Han curiously. "Oh. I didn't think you'd be one for horse racing, actually."

"Horse races? Pfft," he said, waving a hand impatiently. "That's for moisture boys and old coots. I'm talking _pod_racing, here."

Harry promptly lost interest in the conversation as he ate his own food. He neither knew nor cared what "podracing" was, but watching it (or indeed, gambling on it) wouldn't bring them any closer to home. As a matter of fact, they would need to get a handle on that soon if they were to have any hope of returning in one piece; he didn't much fancy being chased off another planet by murderous, axe-wielding pig-people.

Then, too, there was the matter of their magic. Thinking back to their experiences so far, none of them had been able to cast more than a handful of spells before being ready to collapse. They'd need a place to experiment, preferably far away from prying eyes. He thought longingly of the Room of Requirement and Dumbledore's Army, and memories of their sessions crept over him. How he'd enjoyed seeing them grow in their skills; Neville especially, but all of them had come so far. Perhaps, if more had come with to help find Sirius…but he couldn't think like that. They'd only have been in more danger; more of Harry's friends for the Death Eaters to threaten.

Harry felt a twinge of worry as he thought about Ginny, lost and alone in the Department of Mysteries. Even knowing that they'd taken the prophecy out of reach of the Death Eaters did little to ease his guilt for leaving her behind. All that danger he'd put them in to save Sirius had been for nothing; Sirius hadn't even been there to begin with. How _could_ he have been so stupid to believe that vision of his? To ignore Hermione when she pointed out how little sense it made? And his prize for risking the lives of his closest friends was a little spun-glass ball that held some kind of prophecy about him; hardly a worthwhile trade.

He sighed. That was another thing to add to the list; what to do with the prophecy. His curiosity called for them to listen to it, even if he had no idea how to do that, exactly. But part of him feared what they would discover if they did. Lucius Malfoy's sneer floated through his mind. _"Dumbledore never told you the reason you bear that scar was hidden in the bowels of the Department of Mysteries?"_ He wanted to know so badly…but would it be better if he did? Or, perhaps, would it be better if he dashed the little orb against the hardest surface he could find? It'd keep it out of the hands of the Death Eaters, certainly; it would be hard to overcome leaving it in a thousand pieces on an alien planet. He should do just that on the next world they landed on; Teth, wasn't it? Good luck to Voldemort on fixing that one. Yes, he should do that.

"_Haven't you ever wondered why the Dark Lord tried to kill you as a baby?"_

…Or should he?

"Harry? You okay?"

Neville's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "Yeah, I'm…I'm fine. Sorry, what were we talking about?"

"Han was telling us about Teth," Luna said. "It's _purple_."

The pilot eyed her. "Really? Two minutes we've been talking about this and that's what you got out of it?"

She smiled serenely at him. "Oh, not at all. But it being purple is the most important bit. A place that's purple might be home to the Screaming Jumblibinx."

He blinked. "…The what?"

"The Screaming Jumblibinx. It's a creature that collects trophies from those it hunts, but it only shows up in the presence of purple light."

"…Uh-huh. And what does this…Jumbli-whatever look like?"

"Oh, it's _incredible_," she said, oblivious to Ron's knowing smirk or Neville's forehead coming to rest in an open hand. "It's a giant, two-headed creature that walks on three legs. You can tell it apart from a normal Jumblibinx because they've got these mouths that come apart like spider's legs-"

"Ah, Luna?" Harry cut in, seeing the now nauseous look on Ron's face. "Maybe we'd best wait until another time for that?"

"Why?" she asked, looking confused. "I only said what their mouths looked like, I didn't even talk about how when they eat their prey, they distend their-"

Harry quickly cleared his throat as Ron went slightly green.

Han got up from the table. "As fun as this is, I've got some work to do before we arrive. When you're done, Chewie's got another language lesson for you." He chuckled to himself, grabbing the remains of his meal and leaving the room.

They had a fun time trying to learn more of Chewbacca's language. Harry didn't actually feel that he knew any more than before, but it was enjoyable trying to guess the right phrases all the same. Hermione, perhaps irritated by Luna's earlier talk of strange creatures, seemed to be trying her very hardest to outdo her; Luna herself acted unconcerned, and she was the first one to correctly translate a full sentence among them. The sentence wasn't too complex, truthfully ("Bring me the hydrospanner", whatever a hydrospanner was), but Chewbacca seemed quite pleased, ruffling the blonde girl's hair fondly before motioning for them to call it a night.

As soon as they were all safely in their cabin ("stateroom", Harry reminded himself, "stateroom"), Hermione motioned for them to gather close. "We need to talk," she said quietly.

"Can't this wait until morning?" asked Ron, yawning widely.

"No, I'm afraid it can't."

He sighed. "Oh, all right." He turned to Luna. "Don't worry about dinner. I forgive you."

She smiled. "Thank you, Ron. I accept your forgiveness. Oh, wait, I suppose I should apologize first. …What am I apologizing for, again?"

Ron grinned. "See, Hermione? It's fine. Now I'm going to bed."

"It's about getting home," said Hermione.

He paused on his way to the bed, sighed, and returned to the rest of them. "Okay, let's hear it."

"Chewbacca has had me working on a device for displaying a map of the galaxy," she informed them. "If I can get that working-"

"You could find Earth," said Neville, his eyes wide. "Can you do it?"

She nodded. "I'll need a bit more time; a few days, maybe a week. I might also need Chewbacca's help to make sure it works properly. But this ship has all of the components, and once it's finished I can plug it in and put all of the navigational data on the device."

"…I understood about half of that," admitted Ron, "but this map will have our current location, right? And you can figure out where to go from there?"

"Naturally. I may not know much about distances on a galactic scale, but our pilot and copilot do, and, well…" She turned very slightly pink. "You know how much of a fast learner I am."

Harry grinned, feeling hope blooming within him. Finally, they had some direction. "Sounds like we'll be home in no time. Let's drop off Han's bugs and fly home before he convinces us to…I dunno, steal diamonds or something." He yawned, suddenly feeling very tired; probably from all the excitement. "…But we should get some sleep first. See you in the morning, everyone." They all nodded, making their way to their beds. Harry had barely laid his head down when he felt sleep overtake him, his last thoughts being a sudden vision of having Han land the ship on top of all the Death Eaters…

* * *

CHAPTER END

Well, maybe not 10,000 words this time, but it's always tough to determine where a chapter should and shouldn't end for me. Hope it's entertaining, at least! And if not...well, the next chapter should be a little more exciting. It's got a Star Wars staple, after all...;-)


	5. Chapter 5: Shady Deals

Chapter 5: Shady Deals

_An endless expanse of stars was unfolding before him. They zoomed by like car headlamps, throwing him deeper and deeper into their centre. Every time one sped by, he felt a flash of heat, and a handful of tiny coloured marbles would trail in its wake. Each marble carried a faint smell; sweet, bitter, musty, dusty, watery…_

_All were different. All were tiny, so miniscule he could have pinched them between his fingers. And yet he couldn't help but feel a strange affection for the odd one as it sped past._

_Then, all of a sudden, everything stopped. Stars were winking out one by one…No, they were being blocked by something approaching him. It was an eye; a giant, pitiless grey eye. It forced its way past and sent him tumbling out of the way. Its baleful gaze turned toward one of the marbles; an aquamarine one with streaks of white across it._

_Fear gripped him. He didn't know what was going to happen, but he couldn't let it. He had to protect it!_

_There was a horrible droning sound, and then there was a burst of green light. There was a scream echoing inside his head, so loud that it drowned out everything else._

_It was his mother's scream._

_It was Cedric's scream._

_It was his own._

* * *

Harry awoke with a gasp, sweat pouring off him so intensely that he almost thought he'd been dropped into a tub of water. He grabbed for his glasses, but his hands were shaking so badly they slid out of his grip and smacked him in the face. Harry gave a huff of irritation, but strangely, the discomfort seemed to help him refocus himself. He picked his glasses up again, putting them on more properly. That dream…it wasn't the first time he'd had a nightmare that ended with a burst of green light and a scream. Yet it had felt different, somehow…

The door of the stateroom hissed open, and Ron strode in. "Oh, good, you're finally up. Han says we'll be landing in about an hour, so we need to get ready."

"We're landing?" Harry flung himself out of bed, nearly falling flat on his face in the process. He just barely managed to stumble onto his feet, seconds before he would have crashed into Ron. "Sorry."

"'In about an hour', I said. Blimey, I've never seen you get out of bed this fast," Ron said with a wry grin as he dressed haphazardly. "Not even for treacle tart."

Harry ignored him. It was hard to say what it was that made him enjoy takeoffs and landings. Maybe it had something to do with how much he loved to fly. Perhaps, if he tried hard enough, he could convince Han to teach him how to pilot the ship? "Okay, ready." He blinked at Ron's smirk. "What?" Ron pointed to his left hand. Harry looked at it, and saw that he'd somehow put a sock over it instead of his left foot. "Oh." He fixed it hurriedly, face heating slightly as he heard Ron snigger. "There. Let's go."

They left the room, finding the rest of the group waiting for them in the mess. "G'morning, sleepyhead!" Han said by way of greeting. "You just missed us getting the last few things ready. Lucky you, eh?" He grinned at Harry's guilty look. "Anyway, I wanted to let you know a few things before we land. You know how much the Hutts mess with things on Tattooine? Well, it's worse on Teth. Officially, it's Empire-controlled; but if that was all, we wouldn't be bothering with it. It's more like a Hutt world with an Imperial wrapper. Gangs just under the surface, a black market, and on top of that it's an agriworld."

"So…why find work there?" asked Ron.

"Where there's risk, there's reward. And we need to meet someone anyway."

Neville nodded. "O-okay. So…what are we doing?"

Han snorted. "You? You're staying on the ship with Chewie. You too," he said, looking at Luna. "I only need three to help carry the cages."

"'Cages'?" asked Luna, and Harry heard something a little less dreamy about her tone.

"Well, I'm not gonna let 'em run around the ship for a day and a half! Besides, they nest in dark tunnels, so they'll prefer a dark container to a bright ship corridor anyway."

"…Oh. That's good, then."

"Why are we the ones transporting them, anyway?" asked Hermione, frowning at Han. "No offense, but you don't really look like you're in the business of animal handling."

Han shrugged. "That's the great thing about me, kid; taking orders from no one but you means you can be in any business, if you're good at it. Plus there're credits to be made, which helps when you want to eat."

"But why us specifically? Why doesn't the person just ship them themselves?"

He stared at her for a few moments, and she stared right back. Finally, he chuckled. "Okay, fine. The Empire has a strict system of taxes and permits in place, even for bug farming. You pay them to be allowed to own your land. You pay to be allowed to raise the things you want. You pay to be able to sell them. You pay to transport them. And then, after all that, you better hope you have some credits left over, because you gotta pay to make sure there aren't any 'accidents' with everything else. Most can't afford all those things; not if they want to actually survive. So people like me…like _us_," he said, looking pointedly at them, "are around to step in. Ease the burden a little bit. So we transport things for people at a more reasonable price than the Empire and their credit-squeezing."

"We smuggle them, you mean," said Ron.

Neville frowned at Han, while Hermione's eyes narrowed. Luna didn't seem to care much, and Ron actually seemed a bit excited. Harry watched Han carefully, waiting for his response.

"Yeah," Han said with a wry grin. "We smuggle them. Problem with that?"

"But that's illegal!" Hermione said, shocked.

"So's traveling without an identicard," he said without a change in his expression. "How's that workin' out for you?" She didn't answer back, though she looked like she would quite like to have. "…Look. I know this probably isn't your first career choice. But if you want me to get you back to 'Earth', wherever it is, it's gonna take resources. And those aren't free. It'd be one thing if you had your own ship and got to pick which jobs to take and which to turn down. But I don't get much in the way of options; not with the Empire looming over everything."

"So you'll just take anything, then, if it pays?" challenged Hermione.

Han looked over to Chewbacca. "Well, Chewie? Have we turned anything down that would have lined our pockets otherwise?"

The Wookiee growled something that Harry didn't quite catch all of, but it was clear what his intention was: there were things that were off-limits. Doubtless there were more specifics to it; Luna's eyebrows were slightly furrowed.

One of the consoles beeped, and Han listened to it for a moment before addressing them once more. "We can finish this later; we're about ready to drop out of hyperspace. Harry, Ron, I want you up with Chewie and me. The rest of you strap in and wait until we land."

Harry hurriedly followed Han and Chewbacca through the corridors until they were in the cockpit, with the swirling vortex of hyperspace visible through the screen. They each took their seats, and Han tapped several buttons and switches before setting his sight on the lever near the center of the dash. "Dropping into realspace now." He gently pushed the lever forward, and within moments the vortex disappeared, stars coming into view as a large purple orb seemed to grow to massive size before them before stopping abruptly.

"Looks like a great purple marble," Ron muttered. "You sure it's dangerous?"

_Marbles…_ Harry frowned, thinking briefly about the dream he'd had…before shaking himself and refocusing on the planet.

Han was chuckling. "I'm sure. But that's not all bad; means that they've got better things to do than look closely at what we'll be carrying." He motioned for them to keep quiet as he flipped a toggle near him. "This is the _Millennium Falcon_, contacting Peroon traffic control. Requesting permission to land."

A few moments passed, and then a voice responded, tinny over the connection. "This is Peroon traffic control." It sounded like someone who would much rather have been sleeping, and Harry distinctly heard a stifled yawn before it continued. "Please hold while we check your identification." A few more moments passed. "You have been cleared to land at docking bay 14. Please note that all landing and export fees must be paid within one standard day to avoid additional fines."

"Roger that."

"Peroon welcomes you and we hope you enjoy your stay." The voice didn't even bother with any emotion; no doubt the person it belonged to had repeated those words so many times they'd lost all meaning.

Han flicked the toggle back off. "Always a pleasure." Harry watched him closely as he brought them into the atmosphere, trying to keep track of all the buttons and switches in use. It was difficult to do as they came close to the spaceport; he could see it sprawling out before them, a web of buildings and starships in the middle of a mass of multicoloured fields. Harry wondered to himself if they had anything in the way of food on the planet that they could fill their stores with. It was nice to have rations to sustain them, but ration packs weren't quite the same as a proper meal.

Han and his copilot eased the ship down, landing at their designated spot. Unlike the desert planet they'd found themselves on before, the ship bays were not set into pits in the ground. Rather, these were more like dirt lots of varying sizes, with scaffolding around them. As they set down, he caught a glimpse of one of the scaffolds unfolding over the ship before it dipped out of sight from the viewport.

"On the ground," Han muttered. "Okay. Here's the plan. Chewie, you keep Luna and Nev with you on the ship." The Wookie growled something disapproving. "I know, I know. But he's only willing to meet with me alone, and I want this ship ready to go at a moment's notice in case things go south." Chewbacca growled, but it was much less fervent than his previous objection. "…Close enough. Now, you two," he said, pointing at Harry and Ron, "and your bush-haired friend are coming with me. First step is to transport our new cargo and get it secured. Once we've got that, I want you to stay onboard with everyone else while I meet a, er…'friend', so I can pay a few fees."

"Fees?" asked Ron. "What fees?"

Han fidgeted slightly. "…It's not something I'd like you to get involved in. Let's just say some friends help me find some of my jobs, and I owe them some of the profits in return."

"But that's-"

"Drop it, kid." It was strange; he hadn't raised his voice, scowled, or even changed posture at all. And yet the stern tone of his words brought the discussion to a rapid halt all the same. There wasn't any anger in his voice, nor any sort of offense taken.

Could it be…fear? But for what?

* * *

Walking through the streets was again new. The desert planet's buildings had seemed to be made of adobe, and there were many archways to allow shelter from the harsh desert sun. …Or _suns_, rather. But this planet's city had simple tamped dirt pathways, and the buildings seemed to be made of curious white material; Harry couldn't tell if it was stone, plastic, or steel, but the buildings it made seemed sturdy enough. Off in the distance there were tall, white walls that blocked off a group of tall, white buildings. They seemed clean, and yet it somehow did nothing to make them look more inviting.

Unlike those buildings, though, the ones they were passing looked more lived-in. The strange thing about them was that they seemed as if they'd been dropped in place somewhat haphazardly; almost none of the buildings' walls lined up with their fellows, and the roads rarely ran straight for long. Yet the buildings were weather-worn, and if he had to guess, they were probably older than him; ten or even twenty years, maybe. They reminded him of a catalogue Aunt Petunia had been looking at when he was younger; full of pre-made homes that could be put up or taken down in a fraction of the time that normal houses could.

…But then, why hadn't anyone bothered to move these buildings in so many years?

"Han," muttered Hermione as they walked. "How old is this city?" Harry blinked, surprised he hadn't been the only one to find it odd.

Han chuckled. "If I remember right…'bout fifteen or sixteen years now. This planet used to belong to the Hutts, but after it got dragged into the Clone Wars, the Republic decided to scrub it clean of shady deals while they were here; gangs, black markets, everything. They just about had it too, until the Republic collapsed. When the Empire rose up they decided to stake their claim on it. They dropped all these buildings down, stuffed 'em with people, and announced this city was the new capital. The new government decided they couldn't be bothered to do any policing unless it hurt their funding."

"And the gangs came back, didn't they?" Ron asked, looking around them suspiciously.

"Yeah. You're not gonna find 'em just staring everyone down, though. Even in a place like this they won't attack us in the open." He held up a hand to silence further discussion. "We're here."

They were nearly at the edge of the settlement. Han knocked on the door of a dwelling that seemed to be twice the size of most of the others. It slid sideways, revealing a woman with dark hair and two circles on her forehead. "Hello. We're here to pick up an order for return. Tann Duriyan requests express delivery." She looked around at the rest of them, shrugged, and motioned for them to wait, ducking back into the building. Soon, a long, floating crate was being pushed back out. Harry put his hands on it, and was surprised at how easy it was to move despite its obvious weight. Two more were pushed out, which Ron and Hermione each took, and she followed the last one out. Once the door was closed, she held out a hand. Han dropped a credit chip into it, and she nodded. "No refunds," she muttered, and promptly returned inside.

They made their way back to the ship, Han leading them. He'd told them not to speak until they returned and, reluctantly, they'd complied. Of course, the instant the cargo door had closed…

"I thought these were supposed to be cages!" exclaimed Ron. "What are these things? And how are they floating?"

"They _are_ cages; the panels take on the appearance of metal when they're darkened. Less questions that way. And what do you mean, 'how are they floating'? Repulsorlifts, obviously. What, did you think they were floating on a magic cloud or something?"

"W-well…"

He rolled his eyes. "Of course. Look, I've ordered Chewie and the others to stay on board. I have to go meet with a business contact, and I want the rest of you to wait here too."

Hermione's eyes went wide. "But you could get in trouble. Maybe if-"

"No ifs. You heard me." He didn't even look at them as he turned away and walked back out the cargo door.

Ron looked at the man's retreating back, and then at the other two. "…We are following him, yeah?"

Hemione rolled her eyes. "Obviously. Come on."

They just barely managed to get him in sight before he met someone. Of all the aliens they'd met so far, this one had to be the strangest; it looked like someone had replaced a human head with an entire squid, and made the skin orange and scaly. The two chatted casually, but from their current distance Harry couldn't make out what they were saying.

"They're headed that direction," murmured Hermione, gesturing towards what looked like a storage building of some kind. "Should we cut them off?"

"No," said Ron. "If we do that, we might get him in trouble and ruin the whole plan with the bugs. We'll give them a few seconds after they enter before we do."

Hermione nodded, and waited for the two to get inside before motioning them forward. Hermione drew her wand rapidly, stopping the door in its tracks before it could shut properly; Harry couldn't quite hear what spell she'd cast, but he had to appreciate how quickly she'd reacted. All three squeezed in, taking a few moments to look around.

They were standing in what looked like a large warehouse. Huge crates were piled up several feet in the air, and smaller ones were stacked into piles just as often as they were left scattered about. "We won't be able to hear anything from here," whispered Ron. "We need to get closer."

"Come here," Hermione whispered back. "I can Disillusion the two of you. Just promise you'll be careful." The two of them nodded, and they heard the footsteps of their quarry come to a halt.

Harry peeked around a large box; they'd stopped in the center, in the middle of a loose ring of small crates. "There they are," Harry said softly. "Hermione, once you've used the charm on Ron and me, go and hide back by that crate we came in. If something goes wrong and you can Stun them, then go for it."

"Okay," she whispered back, still looking slightly nervous. "Remember, be careful, you two."

"We will, now hurry!" he urged her. She rapped him smartly on the head, and he felt that familiar cold sensation trickling down him as the charm took hold. She did the same to Ron, and Harry actually got to see him vanish, more or less, from his flaming red hair downward as his body took on the color of the container behind him; it was both impressive and eerie. Carefully, he placed a hand behind Ron's back before he faded from sight completely. "Okay, we're ready," he whispered. "Stay by those crates until we get back." She nodded in his general direction before creeping back to the crates. Slowly, Harry led Ron toward the area near the centre of the warehouse, straining his ears to catch as much of the conversation as he could.

"…paranoid even for you, Tekles," Han was saying, his right hand on his hip.

"And I 'just think' that being paranoid keeps me alive, especially in this business," shot back the creature with the octopus-like head. "You have them?"

Han reached into his vest with his left hand, pulling out the cards they'd gotten from the blue aliens on Gamorr. "Count it if you like, but it's there."

"I'll count it just the same, thanks." The creature plugged them into the device on his wrist one after another; it emitted a soft chirp every time, which seemed to satisfy him. He stuffed most of the odd cards into his own pockets, but handed two back. "I'm surprised; Jabba expected there to be some trouble with payment."

Han took the cards, smiling. "I'm a man of many talents, Tekles."

Tekles made an odd wheezing sound that might have been a snort. "I'm glad to hear it. I presume the new job will be a simple affair for you."

"Sounds easy enough; three bugs on a one-way journey to their buyers."

"Yes. And they had better all be alive and well-cared for when you drop them off, or the deal is off, and Jabba will have your neck, boy."

"Aw, I didn't know you cared, Tekles. Now, my fee?"

The alien sighed, pulling a single card out of another pocket. "There. You'll get the rest on delivery. On _successful_ delivery." He handed it to Han. "And the status of our, ah…investment?"

"Safe and sound."

"You had better be telling me the truth, Solo. The new job would get you in trouble if it falls through, but if that merchandise gets lost or stolen, it'll get you a death mark."

"I told you, it's safe. I take care of my ship, which means you have _nothing to worry about_. Now just tell me who to deliver it to and I can get it into the customer's hands that much sooner."

The alien sighed. "Very well. The buyer will meet you in orbit over Klatooine. Then go take a trip somewhere for a month or two while things cool down." He made another wheezing snort. "Don't look so disappointed. You can test your precious ship against the Run another time, but for now you've got more than enough to worry about."

Harry saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and had to suppress a surprised gasp; shadows were moving through the warehouse, and he was sure none were Hermione.

"Her name is Dann Rei, aboard the _Opportunist_. Give her the name of the friend we discussed, and she'll let you aboard to-" He broke off suddenly.

"I know," said Han, almost too quiet for Harry to hear. "Okay!" he called out, looking casually around. "If you're gonna make this a party, we'd at least like to meet face to face." Harry noticed that the whole time his right hand hadn't left his hip, not far above his gun.

_Was he expecting this? _Harry wondered. He tapped Ron's shoulder, pulling him as close as he could to whisper directly in his ear. "Wait 'til they show themselves. Get your wand ready, but don't fire curses wildly; only do it when you know you'll hit. I'm going to get closer." He caught the faintest motion where Ron's head would be; it was almost certainly a nod. Harry patted him once on the shoulder and edged closer to where Han was, hoping beyond hope that their attackers wouldn't just start firing in every direction; he may have been difficult to see, but as he'd become aware after years of using the Invisibility Cloak, not being seen didn't mean you suddenly weren't solid. He drew his own wand, hoping that they could be quick enough to prevent harm from coming to Han.

A figure stepped forward, and as they did, Harry saw that they had a face so full of wrinkles they would have looked like a prune, had their skin not been gray. Long, braided hair dangled from the back of their head like double whipcords, and a twisted smile split their lipless face as they casually spun some sort of gun around their left pointer finger. "Well, well, what do we have here? Is this a deal, going on in _our_ warehouse?"

"What's it to you?" snapped Tekles, reaching for a gun of his own.

"Ah ah ah," the creature reprimanded, the gun suddenly stopping and pointing at Tekles. Nearly a dozen more beings stepped forward out of the shadows. Some of them looked like the speaker, while others were human; regardless, all had guns of their own at the ready. "No need for that. You just hand over those credits you've got on you, and maybe we'll leave it at that for today."

Tekles looked around at them. Harry did as well; at least two of the humans had tattoos on their faces. One of them was a black mark that almost looked like a sun. "This is a Hutt warehouse," the octopus-headed creature growled. "Black Sun thugs have no place here."

"That's where you're wrong, fishbait," one of the humans said. "You're not the only ones with Hutt bosses."

"Now now, let's all be reasonable," said Han, whose hand Harry suddenly noticed had inched closer to his weapon while his attention had been elsewhere. "How about a deal? Maybe we give you fellas an equal cut of the profits instead. You get paid, we get paid, and our bosses get paid. Everyone's happy. Besides, if we start filling the air with blaster bolts, the Empire's gonna come knocking."

The speaker scowled at Han, and then paused. He tilted his head back and forth as he considered the offer. "Hm…tempting, I'll admit. Though…that bribe we paid the customs officer should keep him away for another twenty minutes or so." His grin returned. "I have a better deal. You give us ninety percent of what you've got now, and half of the profits from whatever deal you're making here, and we let you walk away. I'd take it, if you value your life."

Harry saw Han's frown, and he knew that the "negotiations" weren't going to last much longer. They had the element of surprise, and he had a straight shot at the leader. It was now or never.

"_Expelliarmus_!"

The being's gun sailed through the air toward Harry, and he caught it, fumbling slightly with it. He hadn't even got a proper hold on it when it went off, jolting slightly and sending a red bolt in the direction of its owner, who had stumbled backwards and fallen flat on his bottom. The bolt flew just over his head, burning a small circle into the wall beyond him.

"_Stupefy_!"

A jet of red light whizzed through the air, striking the individual Han had been speaking to. He promptly collapsed behind the rough ring of crates he and Han were in the middle of.

The wrinkle-faced creature sputtered for a moment, and then snapped "Well, don't just stand there, you laser-brains! BLAST HIM!"

Utter pandemonium erupted as bolts of red flew every direction. Harry happened to see one of their assailants collapse, but then a stray bolt lanced across where Ron was and he heard a sharp intake of breath. "Ron!" he whispered.

"I'm fine, just get them!" he whispered back.

Harry got a proper grip on the gun with his left hand, but it shook slightly. _I've never fired a gun before; I'll be lucky if I hit anything at all, much less what I aim at._ His grip tightened on his wand. _Whatever; I don't need it as any more than a distraction anyway!_ "_Confringo_!" he yelled, pointing his wand at a group of smaller crates stacked up halfway to the ceiling. A ball of orange light leapt from his wand, exploding forcefully against the crates and causing them to cascade downward like an avalanche. He saw two, maybe three of the unknown individuals collapse under the rain of boxes, but two more escaped with no more than glancing blows. "_Accio firearms_!" The guns in the hands of the two that had escaped flew towards Harry; they paused, bewildered, at the sudden absence of their weapons.

"_Stupefy_!" yelled Ron from somewhere to his right. A jet of red light struck one of the dumbfounded individuals, and he crumpled to the floor. Another jet of red struck the other one, but this one left a circular burn and seemed to ignite the man's clothes temporarily before extinguishing.

_Han_, Harry thought, trying to suppress the squirming sensation in his stomach. He was starting to feel winded; he wasn't sure how many spells he had left in him, but he couldn't afford to waste them. The gun in his left hand seemed to become slightly heavier. _Maybe…if I just fire near one of them…_

"Someone else is here!" the leader yelled. "Spread out!"

"_Stupefy_!" Hermione's voice rang above the din, and another of the assailants fell, but it cost her; she'd leaned out to get the best aim and was too slow returning to her cover. The one closest to the fallen crook fired at her, and Harry saw the shot hit her in the shoulder, knocking her to the ground.

"HERMIONE!" bellowed Ron. "_Conjunctivo_!" A spell hit the man in the eyes, and he shouted in pain as his off-hand went to clutch at his eyes. To Harry's worry, the man began blasting in all directions with his other hand. He prepared to Stun the man, but there was a shout of "There!", and he had to dive in the direction that Ron was to tackle him out of the way as several bolts of red flew at the places they'd just been. As he rolled onto his back, he noticed with a shock that he could see himself properly again. Ron as well; there was a long burn across his stomach where the earlier shot had grazed him. There was another shot, and suddenly the warehouse went quiet. Strangely, it didn't feel any less tense…and then he realized why.

"Well, well, what have we here?" the leader jeered, pointing his weapon at Harry and Ron as he approached them. "So you hid a few backups nearby in case of a double-cross, did you? And with personal-scale cloaking; I think you've got more than enough credits to recoup my losses." His eyes moved from them to Han. "One wrong move, smuggler, and I'll fry your little helpers. But I might be persuaded to be forgiving; dropping all of my crew _does_ mean no one to share the rewards with. Hand over all your credits, now, and I _might_ let you leave here alive."

"You really think I can trust that?" challenged Han, his voice cold and hard. "When you just blasted your own man?"

"Consider it a warning. This is your second." He leveled his pistol to point straight at Harry's eyes. "There will not be a third."

Harry's mind raced, his heart pounding, and yet he knew there was nothing he could do quickly enough to save them. Ron was still facing to the side, and both his wand and his stolen weapon were facing the creature's feet. _If only I could cast non-verbally…!_ But chastising himself did no good. This was the end.

…_I'm sorry, Ginny. We couldn't save you._

Suddenly, something smashed the man right in the face; one of his compatriot's guns! The man's hands went reflexively inward, his weapon aiming at the ceiling rather than Harry's face. Without even thinking, Harry clutched the objects in his hands tightly; the gun in his left hand went off, striking the man in the foot. With a roar of pain and surprise, he stumbled backwards, another bolt of energy striking his occupied arm as he did. The gun flew out of his hand, and he fell over, suddenly mirroring Harry in his pose.

Han walked closer to the man, his face a hard mask of cold fury as he stood over the gang's leader.

"W-wait, we can work this-"

_BANG!_

The man twitched, and spoke no more. Han holstered his pistol, and turned to Harry and Ron. His face softened, no longer full of hatred but still filled with more than enough anger. "Here," he said, offering a hand each to Harry and Ron. They took them, and he pulled them both to their feet. "…You weren't supposed to be here." Hermione approached them, clutching her injured shoulder and wincing in pain. "…I've got some stimpacks back at the ship. We'll get you patched up soon. For now…" He sighed, and there was a complex mix of emotions before his casual expression returned. "…it looks like you did okay for yourselves." Harry and Ron grinned nervously. "…But I don't know what the _hell_ you were thinking!" he shouted.

"We were worried!" Hermione yelled back. "We came to make sure you were okay!"

He closed his eyes and took a long, frustrated breath before letting it out in a huff. "Any reason you blasted my contact?" Han asked, glaring at Hermione.

"We couldn't risk him seeing us. Not with our…er…" She glanced at her wand. "…special equipment. So I got him out of the battle before we appeared."

"…But now he's _dead_."

"No, _Stunned_. We can bring him out of it. Watch." She pointed her wand at the alien.

"Er, Hermione, wait…" Harry began, but she'd already committed to the action.

"_Rennervate_." She tucked her wand away, and Harry and Ron hurriedly followed suit as the creature stirred.

"Ugh…what the Fornax just happened?" Tekles said, rubbing his forehead.

Harry hadn't even had a chance to respond before Han cut in. "Those Black Sun twerps tried to rob us blind. One of them must've set for stun; looks like he got you pretty good there."

"He sure did…wait, hang on…" He looked up at Harry. "Who are you?"

"They're my crew," Han said. "I had 'em hide just in case someone decided to interrupt our deal."

"Hrm…so after all that, you were even more paranoid than me…" He gave a raspy chuckle as he got to his feet. "You'll go far in this business, Solo."

"What about them?" asked Ron, gesturing to the unmoving bodies littering the warehouse.

"Hmm…are they dead or stunned?"

"A little of both," replied Han promptly.

"Your crew didn't have the stomach to kill, hm? Pity. Still…might be able to work with this. How long has it been since the fighting started?"

"About five minutes."

"Please tell me you didn't clean out their pockets."

"We didn't."

Tekles nodded. "Good. In that case, I have a few calls to make. Leave them here, it'll make things go smoother." He nodded to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "My thanks, you three…whoever you are. Now, Captain, I believe you have somewhere else to be. You understand your instructions, right?"

"Right. Take care, Tekles." Han walked over to the body of the gang leader, yanking the gunbelt off of him and handing it to Harry. "…If you're gonna keep that blaster, you'll need a way to carry it."

Harry blinked, noticing that he was still holding the blaster in his left hand. "Oh…right." He tied the belt around himself, temporarily tucking the blaster under his shoulder as he did. Once it was properly in place, he tucked the weapon into its holster. The weight was slightly awkward, and yet…it felt oddly comforting. Almost as if he had suddenly gained another wand to use strictly for combat.

Han chivvied him and the rest of them along, and they began moving briskly to keep pace with him, tucking their wands back into their robes as they left the warehouse. After a minute, he spoke. "I thought I told you to stay on the ship. Ordered you, in fact." His tone was stern, but it seemed that his face couldn't bring itself to match.

"You 'ordered' _Neville and Luna_ to stay on the ship," replied Hermione, with a trace of her old bossiness. "You just told _us_ we _should_, not that we had to."

He was fighting a grin now. "Just my luck. It's not just kids I get stuck with, it's with five kids that go outta the way to be a pain in the cargo hold."

It was odd how little anyone in the city around them seemed to care about their injuries or damage to their clothing. They returned to the ship with little fuss, and the instant they were inside, Han hurried them to the mess.

"Now, I'm not gonna lie," said Han, rummaging through several open boxes. "What you did was stupid and reckless. Not to mention you got yourselves hurt doing it." He found what he was looking for, drawing out…another gun?! Harry flinched, before realizing it wasn't a gun at all. It was…some sort of silvery pen-shaped cap attached to a large apparatus in a shape vaguely like that of a gun; there was even a trigger. "You're hurt worse, you first," he said to Hermione. She stepped close to him, looking nervous. "It's fine, it's just bacta. Hold still." He pressed the tip of the cap against her injured shoulder, pulling the trigger. There was a sharp hiss from the object, and a short gasp of pain from Hermione, and then he removed it.

She touched her wound absently. "It…it doesn't hurt anymore."

"Don't pick at that. It should be healed by morning, but if you open the wound again you'll need another shot, and I don't have a lot of these to waste." Hermione went to sit down at the table. He motioned Ron over, pressing a button on the end of the apparatus. There was a brief sizzling noise, and Harry saw the cap flash orange for a moment before it was silver once more. "Now, back to what I was saying. You shouldn't have gotten caught up in all that back there. You could've been killed." He pressed the cap against Ron's stomach. The same process happened; trigger pull, hiss, gasp of pain, and then the object was retracted. "But…thanks." He gave them a small smile, and then looked around at all of them. "…Because you just saved me a long lecture from Chewie."

"What?!" sputtered Ron, glaring at the man. "We saved you from a lot more than that!"

"Not really," he said, again pressing the button that made the cap light up briefly. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve too, you know." He looked at Harry. "Were you hurt?" Harry shook his head. "Good." He tucked the apparatus back in the box, shoving it away with his foot. "…I don't suppose you're going to tell me about those sticks, are you?"

Harry frowned. "It's…a long story." He looked down, thinking of the world they had yet to return to; about Hogwarts, and Voldemort, and Ginny, and Snape, and all the rest of what was waiting for them when they returned.

"Not one with a good ending, is it?" Harry said nothing. "…All right. Another time, then." He stood up, walking towards the engineering section before stopping again. "…When we get to Sakiya, we'll have a little more time to get things in order for our last stop. Since I can't stop you from poking your noses where they shouldn't be, maybe Chewie and I can at least make sure you can handle yourselves in a fight." And with that, he left.

Ron let out a long sigh, practically collapsing onto the seat next to Hermione. "Phew…that was something else. I dunno about you, but I'm beat."

"You said it," said Harry. Whatever it was that limited their magic in this place, it was making him feel as if he'd run a mile. "All I want to do is go back to our room and sleep for a day."

"Hear, hear. This 'bacta' stuff sure makes me dizzy." He yawned loudly. "Well, might as well head back before I fall asleep right here. C'mon, Hermione." He stretched his arms out, yawning again, and was just about to get up when he frowned. "…Er, Hermione?"

They both turned to look at her. She was already dozing, her breath making the ends of her hair sway.

Ron chuckled. "Always reaching something first, our Hermione. Harry, mind helping me with her?" Both of them took an arm, and together they supported her between them as all three returned to their room. Ron didn't even stay awake long enough to bid Harry good night, slumping into his bed seconds after they'd gotten Hermione to hers.

Harry climbed into his own bunk, and felt the ship shudder into a liftoff. _Darn_, he thought, yawning. _I wanted to…see the…_

And then he'd fallen asleep too.

* * *

CHAPTER END

I was hoping to have this up yesterday, but...*shrug* Anyway, here's another one for you! As always, feel free to let me know what you thought of it.


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